The Boxer

The Boxer, painted in 1933, belongs to Somov's late émigré period in Paris, where he had lived since 1923 following several years in the United States. By the 1930s he was in his late sixties and working primarily on intimate cabinet pictures, portraits, and the homoerotic figure subjects that he pursued alongside his public work throughout his career. A boxer subject is unusual within his known output, departing from the refined female figures and historical costumed subjects of his signature work in favour of masculine physical presence. The subject may reflect his longstanding personal interest in the male figure, documented in his private albums and correspondence, which he shared cautiously with close friends while maintaining a more decorative public persona. Late Somov work of the 1930s has a different quality from his pre-emigration painting — more private, less oriented toward exhibition success, more directly expressive of personal sensibility.

A 1933 late Somov canvas would show the refined technique he never abandoned combined with a more directly observed physical subject. The boxer's muscular form would require confident anatomical drawing, probably executed with the careful academic preparation Somov maintained throughout his career. The palette would likely be more spare than his decorative pre-emigration work.