I keep going back to the same seller in Russia to purchase paintings by Chaloi Leonty, whose estate the dealer handles, as I have yet to buy one that I don't love, and you all seem to like them too. I think he was a really good painter, and I particularly love his small-scale oils on cardboard; little painterly gems. The combination of sky and sea on this one I think is especially great, framing what one imagines is a cozy little village situated in what seems most definitely a pretty bucolic spot! Really lovely.
Signed on the back, and dated 1970. From what I understand, Leonty was born in 1929 in the Urals, and graduated from the Leningrad Art College in 1955, where he studied under G.A. Shah, a student of Ilya Repin. He then worked at the Combine of Fine Arts in the 50s and 60s--a production subdivision of the Leningrad branch the Art Fund of the RSFSR--and in 1975 joined the Soviet Union of Artists. At least from what I have seen, landscapes seem to have been by far his most frequent subject.
Good condition, with a small old tear at lower right; at the corresponding spot of the backside is a glued piece of old newspaper so I think it was likely repaired long ago. It really pretty much disappears. 5 1/4" x 6 15/16". I've shot it with two different lighting situations and am including examples of both.
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