Large watercolour depicting two woodcocks in flight or mating flight against a backdrop of birch trees and tall forests. The landscape, rendered in bluish, yellow and pink washes, creates a soft, misty spring atmosphere, enhancing the finely detailed plumage of the birds. The subtle palette displays rich variations of browns and ochres, contrasted by touches of white left in reserve and black, particularly in the wings of the woodcocks, rendered with great observational finesse.
Antique frame with some missing pieces in the passe-partout. 
Work signed on the left B.RIAB
Frame: 68.5 x 54 cm. (Watercolour 59 x 44 cm)
Good overall condition of the watercolour.
Price: 2500 euros 
REF:
 
Boris Riabouschinsky, known as Riab (1898–1975). Russian animal painter naturalised French
Born into a wealthy family in Moscow, he was deeply influenced from childhood by nature, hunting and animals, a world that would form the heart of his work.
Trained at the Moscow Academy of Fine Arts, he was taught by Konstantin Visotsky, while developing a singular passion for drawing animals. He lived through the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the society to which he belonged. Stripped of his possessions, he fled Russia in 1920, passing through Constantinople, Milan, Great Britain and Canada, before settling permanently in France in 1927. He frequented the Natural History Museum in Paris, where he rubbed shoulders with the masters of animal drawing, Edouard Paul Merite and Roger Reboussin. This encounter enriched his observational skills and his realism in depicting animals.
Settling first in Paris, then in Joinville-le-Pont and finally in Saint-Vincent-du-Lorouër in the Sarthe region, Riab became one of the most sought-after animal artists of his time, particularly in hunting circles. He mainly painted hunting dogs, hunting scenes, forest landscapes and wild animals. His painting is imbued with a certain nostalgia, visible in the recurrence of Russian elements (birch trees, northern atmospheres). Riab excelled in the art of suggesting light and depth through the light superimposition of washes. His strict observation of animal anatomy and behaviour is the hallmark of his realism. His lines are confident, sometimes almost scientific, but never rigid: the animals are captured in their natural movement, whether at rest or in action. He collaborated with specialist hunting magazines and regularly participated in the Salon des Animaliers. He died in 1975.