Saturday, February 1, 2020

Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitskiy

Repost from June 7, 2018

Way back in time in my early twenties, I discovered a beautiful tapestry at an open market. A forest scene with bears which would go perfect with the saloon style bar I owned. I lost the bar in my divorce, but I kept the tapestry. It still hangs on my wall decades later.


 I didn’t ever think of the artist or the history behind the tapestry until my daughter sent me this picture from Masha and the Bears showing my tapestry on a puzzle box. The grandkids were excited to see Grandma’s tapestry on the video. I had no idea there was a puzzle. What else was there?  I had to know more.




I started with watching Masha and the Bears. It took forever to get a freeze frame that would show me the title.

The tapestry turns out to be a famous painting. It is called Morning in a Pine Forest and was painted in 1886 by two Russian artists, Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitskiy. Ivan painted everything except the bears. Both artists signed the painting, but Savitskiy’s name was erased by an art collector, Pavel Tretyakov. (According to my Internet research.)


The above photo doesn’t do the tapestry justice. The colors are richer.

I have always found comfort in this tapestry, but both my daughters found it to be terrifying. Maybe they were concerned I would take them to the forest and leave them there. Probably shouldn’t have read them Hansel and Gretel with so much glee.

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