Skip Navigation

Old Trombola

Boris Grigoriev

European Art

Boris Grigoriev trained in art academies in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Paris before finding inspiration in Russian cabarets on the eve of the October Revolution. He immigrated permanently to France in 1921 and continued producing his psychological portraits of Russian showgirls, artists, monks, and peasants. In Old Trombola Grigoriev heightens his sitter’s emotional state by emphasizing his intense gaze and exaggerating the sculptural qualities of his weathered hands and face. Grigoriev later wrote, “I have been watching and studying the Russian people for many years ... and these paintings are the fruits of my observations.”
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
DATES 1924
DIMENSIONS 29 × 23 1/2 in. (73.7 × 59.7 cm) frame: 34 5/8 × 28 7/8 × 2 1/2 in. (87.9 × 73.3 × 6.4 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed and dated lower right: "Boris Grigoriev/1924"
COLLECTIONS European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 25.90
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. W. Murray Crane, Morton E. Goldsmith, Boris Grigoriev, and The New Gallery
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Boris Grigoriev (Russian, 1886-1939). Old Trombola, 1924. Oil on canvas, 29 × 23 1/2 in. (73.7 × 59.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. W. Murray Crane, Morton E. Goldsmith, Boris Grigoriev, and The New Gallery, 25.90 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 25.90_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE overall, after cleaning, 25.90_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2010
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.