VASIL’EVA, Nina Nikolaevna (1889-1979). Group photograph of the poetess with her husband Dmitrii

VASIL’EVA, Nina Nikolaevna (1889-1979). Group photograph of the poetess with her husband Dmitrii Gordeev to her left, and with Nadezhda Kryzhanovskaia, Robert Bliuk, Iurii Marr and Sofiia Mikhailova, signed by each, with indistinct inscription dated 17 May 1920 (118 mm x 162 mm). [Together with:] – A signed passport photograph on card (110 mm x 70 mm), and a photograph of her in old age (158 mm x 120 mm). Provenance: Nina Nikolaevna Vasil’eva (1889-1979, poet [for a fine Zdanevich manuscript with this provenance see Christie's King Street, 19 November 2014, lot 79]).

Nina Vasileva was regarded by Rafalovich as one of the most talented poetesses of Tbilisi in 1919. The daughter of General N.A. Vasil’ev, governor general of Batumi, she studied at the Smol’nyi Institute and started to write and publish poetry anonymously. In 1916 she moved to Tbilisi and mixed in poetic circles, and was published in The Fantastic Tavern (see lot 140) and To Sofiia Georgievna Mel’nikova, and worked in the Caucasian Historical-Archaeological Institute in 1920-30s. Among her friends was Tatiana Kalashnikova.

View on Christie's.com