Danila VASSILIEFF

Russian; Australian 1897–1958

Born in southern Russia, Danila Vassilieff was a lieutenant colonel on the eastern front during World War I. When captured by the Red Army in 1921, he escaped and led a nomadic life for several years, travelling through Iran (Persia), Al Jazirah (Mesopotamia), India, Burma and China before arriving in Darwin in 1923.

Vassilieff worked as a railway contractor near Katherine in the Northern Territory and established a sugarcane and banana farm south of Cairns, where he began painting as a hobby. From 1929 to 1931 he travelled to Rio de Janeiro, studying academic painting and drawing with Dmitri Ismailovitch, a Cossack academic painter, and simultaneously worked as an engineering draughtsman with an Anglo-Mexican oil company. Vassilieff rejected all forms of academic training and his three solo exhibitions of West Indian subjects shown in London in 1934 and 1935 gained critical attention and acclaim. These works, including such London subjects as The buffet, 1934, whereby the signature is emblazoned on the side, drew praise for their spontaneity and distinct use of colour:

Half of his sketches are brilliant ‘tours de force’, the other half might well have been kept hidden … his vivid and daring colour, his cheeky observation, his imaginative composition, and his unexpected vision combine to produce effects as refreshing as they are spontaneous.1

Returning to Australia in 1936, Vassilieff exhibited in Sydney and Melbourne. He settled in Fitzroy and painted vibrant expressionist images of the local residents that captured the imagination of his younger contemporaries, including Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman, Joy Hester, Sidney Nolan, John Perceval and Albert Tucker. From 1937 to 1946 he held the position of teacher at Koorong, an experimental school in Warrandyte, and built his remarkable home, Stonygrad, from rocks quarried on his property.

1 Observer, London, 4 March 1934, quoted in Felicity St John Moore, Vassilieff and His Art, Melbourne, 1982, p. 20.

Geoffrey Smith

Little woman, 1950, is one of Vassilieff’s unmistakable sculptures created from Lilydale marble. His approach to carving from stone correlated directly to his experience of building; however, instead of leaving the stone rough, Vassilieff smoothly polished the surface to reveal the character that existed within the stone. Although the majority of his subjects were figurative, the artist responded to the unique and asymmetrical features of the stone that allowed a metaphoric interpretation.

Little woman was a particular favourite with the artist and for many years was displayed on a wooden shelf adjacent to the fireplace in his living room at Stonygrad.

Geoffrey Smith