Portrait of an Art Historian and Restorer Alexander Anisimov 1915

Boris Kustodiev made this portrait of art historian Alexander Anisimov with oil on canvas at an unknown date. Kustodiev lays down these thin washes of color, building form slowly, in this beautiful portrait. The painting feels like it came into being gradually, emerging through intuition. Just look at the little dabs of rose on the sitter's cheek. Imagine Kustodiev gently layering brushstroke upon brushstroke, coaxing out the likeness. I wonder, what might Kustodiev have been thinking as he painted? How did he see Anisimov—as a guardian of history, a fellow artist, or simply a friend? There's a playful tension between the flatness of the painted surface and the illusion of depth. The background landscape, with its fairytale domes, creates a strange double portrait effect. Kustodiev made many portraits, each one a sensitive dance between representation and something more profound. The rosy cheeks remind me of Alexej von Jawlensky, another portrait painter with a distinctive take. Ultimately, artists are always in conversation, riffing off each other's ideas and visions! This painting is an invitation to embrace ambiguity.