Huts in Siberia

Leskov, A

Signed l.l.

Measures: 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. (21.6 x 13.3 cm.); 11 x 8 in. (30 x 20 cm.) including frame.

Provenance: From the private collection of Alexander Sklarevsky

Alexander Fedorovich Sklarevski (1882-1963) was a concert pianist who fled Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution. Travelling east by train across Siberia to Vladivostok, a grueling five-week journey, he had with him a few treasured possessions from his native land, including this painting. Graduating in 1908, Sklarevski received the first of many gold medals from the Imperial Conservatory of Music in St. Petersburg. He later became Director of the Third Imperial Conservatory of Saratov. For decades and to great acclaim, Sklarevski played in concert halls around the world, from Harbin, Shanghai and Tokyo to Paris, Washington and New York. Dubbed “the musical dictionary” by his students, he could perform up to 350 compositions from memory. In 1923, he joined the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore where he remained a professor for 30 years.