"Near The Post Office", unknown, 13" x 16", oil on board
I found this unframed
painting at a local thrift shop for $3.77, including
tax. I think it is London scene from the 1920s or
1930s, judging by the image and the board that it is
painted on. I can almost make out the signature and
suspect that it may be "V. Sozonov", and is by
Russian painter Valerie Sozonov or Vsevolod Sozonov. Valerie is used as
a man's name in Russia. I suspect that the several records I have found for these two men are actually for the same man. I have only been able to
find a few examples of work attributed to this artist on
the Internet, but could not find an image of a
signature. I am researching a biography for these artists.
The style is very similar to the couple of examples of this
artist's work that I could find, and there were several mentions of
English and London scenes in the auction records of
his work. There are a few scratches and scrapes on
this piece, but I really like the motion in the
scene. I had almost given up on finding treasure
that day and was literally on my way out of the
door, when I saw it leaning, half hidden among some
other items. Woo and Hoo. The remnants of a label
and the pencilled title are verso. It is somewhat
maddening that the label was removed. I would
appreciate hearing from anyone who is familiar with
this artist's work.
