Richard Karlovich Zommer (Russian 1866-1939) At the door to the mosque Signed Oil on canvas 58 x...

Richard Karlovich Zommer (Russian 1866-1939)

At the door to the mosque

Signed

Oil on canvas

58 x 86cm; 23 x 34in

Provenance:

Captain Henry Herbert Douglas-Withers, purchased from artist in Tbilisi in 1915/16

By family descent to the present owner Captain Douglas-Withers fought in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915/16 with the Prince of Wales Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) and was awarded the Military Cross for exemplary gallantry. After the campaign he was part of a small British force that was sent stabilise Tbilisi, as many White Russians were there, fleeing the Red Army. Richard Zommer was teaching in Tbilisi and sold his paintings locally. Captain Douglas-Withers purchased a number of his pictures including lots 471, 472 and 473 and stored them in Army Map containers for transport home.

Born in Munich, Zommer went to St Petersburg in 1884 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, winning several awards for his work. In the 1890s he travelled extensively in Asia and developed his style, renowned for being true to life and for his vibrant depiction of light. In the early 1900s he moved to Georgia and worked in the Caucasus Mountains providing an invaluable record of life in this remote territory at this time. He taught many Georgian painters but the artist Lado Gudiashvili was perhaps the one who he influenced the most. Between 1916 and 1920 he exhibited in Tbilisi and it was at this time that these three works were purchased. In 1939 the Stalin regime forced him to leave Georgia and no record of him has been found after this. It is likely that he was interned in Siberia as this was the fate that befell ethnic Germans at this time.