Feodor Zakharov

View of the Shimmering Sea From Woods Hole, Massachusetts, c. 1927, Feodor Zakharov, Russian. Oil on canvas. 38 ½ x 51 inches. Museum
Purchase, 1996.
Peter Paul Geoffrion

Feodor Zakharov was a Russian-born artist who studied at the Moscow School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1912. In 1924, he immigrated to the U.S. to assist with the Russian Art Exhibition, held at New York’s Grand Central Palace. The organizers intended this exhibition, which included nearly 1,000 works, as an opportunity for the 100 artists represented to seek financial aid outside of revolutionary Russia. A few of Zakharov’s works, mostly portraits, were included.

In addition to portraiture, Zakharov painted landscapes and still lifes. His scenes were true to nature with an accuracy some likened to photography. Zakharov believed that in order to convey successfully the nuances of life, painters needed to understand the intricacies of light and shadow and translate those observations into pigment on canvas.

View of the Shimmering Sea From Woods Hole, Massachusetts is an excellent illustration of Zakharov’s beliefs. This seascape in the Nasher Museum of Art collection depicts an unspoiled world that feels strangely calm, quiet, and still. Gentle waves lap the pristine coastline at the southwest corner of Cape Cod near Martha’s Vineyard. Bright summer sunlight glances off the rippling water. Drifting by on the horizon is a single sailboat, the only evidence of human life in an otherwise isolated world.

This seascape will be on view with other nineteenth- and twentieth-century landscapes and seascapes from the Nasher Museum’s permanent collection from August 27, 2011, through January 29, 2012.

www.nasher.duke.edu