Church at Bry-sur-Marne

Title and date supplied by Boris Kalachnikoff, 1983. Framed in 1984 by Theo de Lange.

Original owner Patience Tennent, the artist’s niece.

Bry-sur-Marne is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France, 12.6 km from the city centre. In 1953, when Boris and Christiane Kalachnikoff built their house in Bry-sur-Marne, the population was approximately 6,660 and the town still retained its rural character.

Flora Scales in conversation with M. de Lange, Easter 1982, “[she] wished she had used a vertical format to get greater height in the spire and made the sky darker and denser to relieve the flatness and make the white house project forward more. The red under the 'tree' is shadow and the tree is behind the big wall and cows were under the wall. It was painted near the Kalachnikoff's country cottage.”

Artist John Drawbridge (1930-2005) in conversation with B. de Lange 1983, “[It] shows the beautiful things that happen on the surface of the painting – the value of the paint.”