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Click here to subscribe"1930`s silk chiffon tunic dress, apricot with grey embroidery and jeweled decoration to middle, 1960`s Elizabeth Henry green silk dress, a long bandeau gown in a range of blues with flower design on a grey background, a light pink chiffon dress, cap sleeved with sequin scrolling to V neckline and a beige hessian jacket (5)"
FALK, ROBERT 1886-1958 Woman in Red. Portrait of Lyubov Georgievna Popesku , signed. Oil on canvas, 71.5 by 91 cm. "Provenance: A gift from the artist to Nina Lurie, Moscow. Thence by descent.Collection of Olga Dvoretskaya, Moscow, until 1975. Private collection, Moscow, until 1994.Private collection, UK.Exhibited: Robert Falk, Tsentral’nyi dom rabotnikov iskusstv, Moscow, 1939.Literature: D. Sarabianov, Yu. Didenko, Zhivopis’ Roberta Fal’ka. Polnyi katalog proizvedenii, Moscow, Elizium, 2006, p. 572, No. 801, illustrated.The portrait of the artist Lyubov Georgievna Popesku, marked the final stage in the creative evolution of Robert Falk’s images of women.Falk first met Lyubov Popesku in the Crimea in 1916, where he painted her in a notable Nude, now in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery. The next meeting between artist and model was 15 years later, in a totally different time and place. By this time, having initially arrived in Paris on a short trip, Falk was already more firmly settled in France. His previous enthusiasm for Cézannism during the Jack of Diamonds period had now given way to an ever more intense quest for a unified environment, saturated with colour and with light enveloping people and objects. Seeing Popesku in Paris in 1930, Falk painted her portrait In a Red Turban, as a traditional psychological study and, two years later, Woman in a Blue Beret. The picture Woman in Red occupies a special place in this series.The pose — in which the artist Popesku sits at a table — was quite random. The fragile female figure is shown as slightly alienated, as if seized by a fleeting moment of melancholy. A distinctive feature of the composition is its circular movement, which dictates the direction of our gaze and leads us from her left hand, placed on the table, up to the slightly bowed head and hat, making the painting harmonious.According to Falk, the portrait was created as a study for the monumental canvas Old Women. Loneliness which was conceived as a definitive summation of life. This female figure, still young and with traces of her former beauty, conveys much more clearly than other protagonists might the true meaning of the work. D. Sarabianov, speaking of this work, ascribed a special significance to the figure of Popesku. “Turned slightly sideways, away from the centre of the canvas, she is lost in this space, in this world, among other people. The figure of the woman was particularly important to Falk’s intention, demonstrating that the subject of his picture is not simply suffering from old age... It is the expression of emotional fatigue, anxiety, burn-out; in other words, of universal qualities born of the contemporary world — or perhaps intrinsic to mankind.”"
* KOROVIN, KONSTANTIN 1861-1939 Lady with a Guitar , signed and dated 1912. Oil on canvas, 86 by 66 cm. "Provenance: Collection of A.Y. Abramyan, Russia.Private collection, USA.Exhibited: The Fine Art Exhibition of the Russian Union of Artists, Fadeev Central House of Literature, March-April 1972 (label on the stretcher).Literature: Illustrated on a postcard published by Izobrazitel’noe iskusstvo, Moscow, 1974.Lady with a Guitar is a magnificent example of Korovin’s work from the 1910s when the master reached the peak of his career. His canvasses became increasingly colourful during this period, and a free, sweeping style emerged. This is clearly visible in the portraits of Nadezhda Komarovskaya, a close friend of Korovin, who frequently modelled for him during this period.Korovin painted his model by improvising directly from nature, and therefore the portrait has none of the deliberate, painstaking style and faithfully recreated details which were characteristic of his very early work. He strove to depict the young lady in a relaxed pose and to convey a lively, domestic scene. His speedily produced works are focused on conveying first impressions. A relationship between the sitter and her environment is constructed with the aid of vibrating light and varied reflections. The way in which he makes use of his own “trademark” colourist discovery of 1886 is also extremely striking: the “burning” of the red next to green, gradually transforming into the traditional colour spectrum of the master and his diverse combinations of dark green and red-ochre tones. The very structure of the composition, in which a model sits in the corner against the background of a window, becomes a characteristic feature of Korovin’s works of this period, which frequently combine the genres of portraiture, landscape painting and still life. A number of compositions from this series are well-known. They include one of the Lady with a Guitar portraits, which was sold at MacDougall’s Russian Art Sale in May 2006."
BOGDANOV-BELSKY, NIKOLAI 1868-1945 The Teacher`s Guests , signed. Oil on canvas, 80.5 by 102 cm. Provenance: Private collection, UK.The work will be included in the book on N. Bogdanov-Belsky being prepared by A. Kouznetsoff.The Teacher’s Guests by Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky is the artist’s reworking of his celebrated work The Teacher’s Name Day. Executed with impeccable skill, it presents a significant departure from his earlier works painted at the turn of the century and bears witness to the creative strides made during his later period.The idea of a work on the theme of village children invited to tea with their teacher was first conceived of by Bogdanov-Belsky in 1908, when visiting the estate of a landowner named Ushakov, in Tver Province. There he executed a sketch entitled Visiting the Teacher from which, two years later, he painted the large-scale work that brought him celebrity in Europe. Sadly, it has been lost and is known only from reproductions. The artist, however, carefully preserved the sketch itself and used it as the basis for several variations which would have been well-known by his contemporaries, including The Teacher’s Name Day, The Teacher’s Birthday and Visiting the Teacher.When Bogdanov-Belsky left Soviet Russia for Latvia in 1924 he took the sketch with him, and it is today preserved in the Art Museum in Riga. As an émigré he again turned to the theme of children having tea in a garden, always composed from fresh sketches drawn from life and never forfeiting the principles of Impressionism, which for him were still relevant. Thus his protagonists change from picture to picture and this large work, The Teacher’s Guests, is a splendid demonstration of this. Painted while the artist was living in Latvia, this work continues to focus on the theme of a happy village childhood, which allowed him to address the creative problems of light and colour that interested him. By arranging his figures within their landscape and using lively, vivid, vibrant colours, the artist fills the picture with the fleeting movement of foliage trembling in the wind and with the sense of a glimpse of real life. The composition is imbued with the desire to convey artistically the link between man and nature and to suffuse the canvas with light and air.It was most likely local youngsters who posed for this picture, alongside the artist’s young wife, who often modelled for Bogdanov-Belsky’s portraits and genre works. Incidentally, many of the teacher’s guests can also be seen in his other works of the time. We can, for example, recognise the little girl in the flowered headscarf and striped top, drinking tea from a saucer, as the protagonist in the romanticised work Inspiration, and the two urchins sitting at the end of the table nearest to us as the young visitors to an artist’s studio in the painting Guests.
* LAGORIO, LEV 1827-1905 Sea Shore. Crimea , indistinctly signed and dated 1891. Oil on canvas, 97.5 by 125.5 cm. "Provenance: Private collection, Europe.Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert V. Petrov.Authenticity of the work has also been confirmed by the expert N. Ignatova.Sea Shore. Crimea dates from Lagorio’s mature period. During this period, he remained consistently Romantic in style, capturing hues in the natural environment evocative of moods and feelings. In the 1890s his work was distinguished by an ability to combine the immediacy of an on-the-spot study with the artifice of colour effects in the best traditions of Romantic and Academic landscape painting. It is the very compositions that included people strolling along the beach which marked the highpoint of Lagorio’s genre landscapes, combining the polish and tranquillity of the Italian school with a more Russian, psychological element.Lagorio — who was among the most talented of the 19th-century landscape, seascape and battle artists — had a special love of the Crimean coast, for he was born in Feodosia, into the family of the Neapolitan Vice-Consul. His childhood on that coast, together with the direct influence of Aivazovsky, who lived nearby, would determine Lagorio’s artistic credo throughout his life. In the late 19th century the Crimea became a Mecca for many Russian artists, having replaced their beloved but distant Italy. His main subject was the seashore and in portraying it he attached particular significance to the rendering of light, aerial perspective and water in its various states. After graduating from the Imperial Academy of Arts, from the class of Maxim Vorobiev and Bogdan Villevalde, and completing a study tour of Europe, he even took a studio for himself in Sudak, where he would often spend the summer months.Sea Shore. Crimea resembles Lagorio’s typical compositional and artistic devices. The rocks are depicted in an extremely realistic way and the strolling couple is typical of Lagorio’s use of staffage in Crimean landscapes. The painting is executed with all the distinctive traits of the artist’s best works — a strong basic composition, decorative but true colouring and effective lighting — and can be considered his benchmark work.When Lagorio painted the present work he was already a revered professor of the Academy of Arts and had behind him hundreds of coastal views which were highly rated by his contemporaries, yet he was still able to preserve a certain freshness in his impression and a sincerity of feeling in his Crimean landscapes. His coastal views, joyous, sunny, animated by a sailing ship on the horizon, by a boat coming in to moor or elegant figures taking a stroll, were so popular with the local high society that the artist decided to devote the whole of his 1893 solo exhibition to landscapes of the Crimea’s southern coast.It was these Crimean works that constitute the lion’s share of the artist’s output, which have come down to us. Certainly, the catalogue for his memorial exhibition, organised in 1906 by Lagorio’s admirers in St Petersburg, lists many views of Kuchuk-Lambat, Yalta, Simeiz, Feodosia, Alushta, Sebastopol and the surroundings of Sudak: Sea Shore. Crimea might well be hiding behind one of their rather uninformative titles."
AIVAZOVSKY, IVAN 1817-1900 Classical Poets on a Moonlit Shore in Ancient Greece , signed and dated 1886, also further signed on the reverse. Oil on canvas, 94 by 146 cm. Provenance: Property of a distinguished Greek family, Istanbul, until the 1950s.Anonymous Sale; The Russian Auction, Stockholms Auktionsverk, 4 October 2007, Lot 47.Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.Private collection, UK.Authenticity certificate from the expert V. Petrov.The work will be included in the forthcoming second volume of G. Caffiero and I. Samarine’s monograph on the artist.In his paintings Ivan Aivazovsky often turned to the subject of great poets, from the classical bards of the ancient world to more recent men of genius — Dante, Byron and Pushkin. Art historians are certain about many of the reasons that impelled the celebrated painter of seascapes towards portraying men of letters. For example, the artist was initially inspired to paint the great Russian poet when the two men met at the Imperial Academy of Arts, and subsequently after discussions with Pushkin’s friend Nikolai Raevsky and plans for an exhibition, marking the anniversary of the poet’s death. It was the mature master’s ideas on the meaning of life and art that found form in the work Dante Shows an Artist Some Unusual Clouds. The occasion of his painting, in 1898, the celebrated Byron Visiting the Mecharist Monastery on San Lazzaro Island in Venice was a flare-up of the Armenian question. However, Aivazovsky’s paintings devoted to the classical poets, works linked by motif and the time of their composition, represent a strange and intriguing, yet still little known, chapter in the artist’s biography.This small group consists of three works: the picture now offered for auction, Classical Poets on a Moonlit Shore in Ancient Greece, Acropolis of Athens in Ancient Times (private collection) and Wedding of a Poet in Ancient Greece (Art Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan). Painted in 1886, all three works are similar in size and all evoke an idyllic atmosphere of Arcadian harmony. However, despite these similarities, it is now hard to establish with any certainty, whether the choice of subject in these works was in response to a commission or simply the fruit of the artist’s unconstrained imagination.Either way, Classical Poets on a Moonlit Shore in Ancient Greece occupies a special place in his antiquity cycle. This heartfelt depiction of a peaceful nocturnal view of a Greek shore is distinguished from its daytime counterparts by a greater integrity. Here the portrayal is less detailed in the delineation of the terrain and its distinctive colouring. Unlike the other two works, in this picture Aivazovsky does not offer the viewer porticos of ancient temples to win them over. We can barely make out, through the gloom of night, the laurel wreaths and togas of the winners in the poetry contest. The poetic face of ancient Hellas is composed of different artistic ingredients.The moon, which has risen over the sea, framed by clouds, watches over the peace and silence of the sleeping, mirror-like surface of the water. The artist has conveyed perfectly the mystery of night, its power to transform the visible world, the close mystical connection between the moon and the sea that reveals itself on this kind of night. The beauty of the moonlight is expressed not only in the colouring of the pale night sky, but also in that of the sea, across which runs the luminous moonglade. The sea and rocks, bathed in spectral moonlight, evoke a Romantic sense of the vastness of the earth’s expanse and the delights with which it is filled.Aivazovsky laboured hard over his depiction of the moon, which he referred to as a “half-ruble moon”. His virtuosity at conveying the effects of moonlight playing on the clouds and the moonglade lying, trembling, on the water surface, became his greatest painting achievement and elicited admiring recognition from the public. Aivazovsky distributes the glitter of moonlight in vivid, bright, rhythmical brushstrokes and splashes, like golden sparks. They are ripples on the calm sea and, at the same time, visual highlights. Here water, light and air fuse into a single element. Light is contained in the demurely cool and elegant grey-blue colour palette. It seems to oscillate with the movement of the water, rolling when it gets to the shore, and the dynamic, curved brushstrokes convey the form of the waves.Air and water — these are the two main elements of nature and for Aivazovsky, following the views of the natural philosophers of antiquity, they are the two basic elements of painting. The sky in his Classical Poets on a Moonlit Shore in Ancient Greece is as informative as is the sea. For the sky tells the viewer in detail about the time of day, the atmospheric conditions and dictates the mood. This aerial ocean, with its currents and its clouds, running into the moon that illuminates the water — this is the area where this artist’s mastery is seen at its most refined.The picture is endowed with a special tonality and appeal to the emotions, thanks to the combination of landscape with a genre motif. Aivazovsky often had recourse to this strategy — much loved by his public — in order to ring changes in his seascapes. When portraying the protagonists in his picture sitting and standing on the rock by the water, the artist applied one of his most effective techniques for nocturnal scenes: he placed his figures against the light. This use of contre-jour gave the composition further dramatic expressiveness. The rock, the boats moving across the water, the water’s edge and the cliffs resemble dark wing flats on a theatre stage. And between these “flats”, in the foreground, we see the poets, deep in conversation, actors in a shadow play. In the distance, behind them, a multi-layered composition of sky and sea opens up, lit by the moon from its diaphanous heights and by subtly elaborated lighting effects.Although Aivazovsky often compared his own creative process with that of poetry, saying that “the subject of a picture comes together in my mind as does a poet’s subject in his”, this canvas shows its real literary subject receding into the background, while the picture is perceived as a harmonious poem of colour and light.
SAVRASOV, ALEKSEI 1830-1897 Pastoral Scene , signed. Oil on canvas, 65 by 54 cm. Authenticity certificate from the expert V. Petrov.Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert N. Ignatova.Authenticity of the work has also been confirmed by the expert G. Churak.Pastoral Scene is one of the small group of light, lyrical landscapes that Savrasov painted towards the end of his life. Very few works of this period survive and for this reason they are of undoubted interest to collectors.The small-scale, salon-style format so beloved by Savrasov (similar to that of the celebrated works in the State Tretyakov Gallery, Rooks Have Returned and A Country Road) and the poetic nature of the motif bear testimony to that single-minded quest for artistic form which for many years was at the centre of the work of one of Russia’s most soulful landscape painters.The juxtaposition of the expansiveness of a Central-Russian river panorama, a blue sky covered with scudding clouds and the peaceful, unspectacular beauty of a river bank and pine forest with a herd of cows come to drink at the water’s edge, is a motif which first appeared in the artist’s work in the 1850s. Even then, in the earliest days of his artistic career, Savrasov’s keen love of nature, tinged with a religious quality, was already finding radiant expression in his low-key landscapes, imbued with careful and touching attention to the details of village life.Domestic cattle grazing peacefully by the water became the theme of a series of notable Savrasov works, so that the subject the artist elaborated in Summer Day (1850s, now in the Krasnodar Regional Art Museum) was taken further in his work of the 1860s and 1870s, including the celebrated Elk Island, Sokolniki (1869), acquired by Pavel Tretyakov. We sense definite echoes and resonances with this masterpiece in Pastoral Scene, painted two decades later, which was composed as a variation on the artist’s favourite motifs. It displays Savrasov’s usual selection of component parts: a watering-place in the foreground reflecting the intricate pattern of clouds and sky, a group of cows drinking unhurriedly, slender pine trunks suffused with sunlight, a path leading off into the distance and a far-off, evanescent church and bell-tower.His paint is applied in thin, almost transparent layers. The brushwork is without superfluous differentiation in the texturing of forms and only serves to emphasise the details this artist considered essential — the silhouette of the distant church on the hill and the tiny figures of birds over the water. Only the copse intrudes into the expanse of sky, preventing the eye from penetrating any further, instead directing us upwards towards the sky which still shows blue between the clouds. The artist has managed to seamlessly combine the intimacy of this homely little spot with the picturesque beauty of the view. As Savrasov’s pupil Isaak Levitan wrote of his master, “What simplicity! But behind that simplicity you sense the good, gentle soul of the artist, for all this is dear to him, close to his heart... In this simplicity lies a whole world of sublime poetry.”
JAWLENSKY, ALEXEJ VON 1864-1941 Landschaft mit rotem Dach, Wasserburg , signed. Oil on board, 48.5 by 52.5 cm. Executed c. 1906.Provenance: Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, acquired by 1952.Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, acquired by 1961.Anonymous Sale; Lempertz, Cologne, 28th November 2007, Lot 154.Acquired from the above.Private collection, Germany.Private collection.Exhibited: Alexej Jawlensky, Neues Museum, Wiesbaden, 4 September-3 October 1954, No. 10 (label on the reverse).Kunstwerke aus Galeriebesitz, Städtisches Museum, Wiesbaden, 14 October-117 March 1956-1957, No. 24.Alexej Jawlensky, Galerie Wilhelm Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, 3-31 October 1961.Vom Abbild zum Urbild, Ganserhaus, Wasserburg, 5 September-28 October 1979, No. 8.Literature: C.Weiler, Alexej Jawlensky, Cologne, 1959, p. 262, No. 514, illustrated.Vom Abbild zum Urbild, Wasserburg, Ganserhaus, 1979, p. 32, No. 8, illustrated.M. Jawlensky, L. Pieroni-Jawlensky & A. Jawlensky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1890-1914, London, 1991, vol. I, p. 136, No. 145, illustrated.Landschaft mit rotem Dach, Wasserburg (Landscape with a Red Roof, Wasserburg) is an early work by the outstanding innovator and gifted colourist Aleksej von Jawlensky. It was painted in 1906 at Wasserburg am Inn, at a time when the artist’s enthusiasms for various styles were constantly shifting and he was seeking his signature colour palette.In January of that year Jawlensky showed nine pictures at the World of Art exhibition in St Petersburg, along with Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Vladimir Serov and Konstantin Somov. The exhibition was organised by Sergei Diaghilev, who invited Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin to spend the winter with him in St Petersburg. That summer the artists set out for Wasserburg, an old Bavarian town with narrow lanes and picturesque views. Jawlensky worked tirelessly, painting from nature, excited by the idea of “life in colour”.The countryside had a calming effect on Jawlensky: his colours were already less outrageously dazzling, and light and dark bluegreen tones now predominated in his pictures, while his yellows and reds became somewhat muted. The landscape is charged with exceptional energy, conveying the psychological state of a person as he contemplates nature. Jawlensky was a real observer, convinced that it was necessary to devote one’s whole being to take in and commit to canvas the beauty of nature. Of the works of this period — mostly spent in Germany with only occasional visits to Russia — a significant number were landscapes, executed in the spirit of Impressionism. However, over time, the artist adopted the portrait as his favourite genre and this is the genre in which he was to work most and which was clearly the answer to all his creative urges.Jawlensky was forever trying to find himself and continually discovering new enthusiasms. His acquaintance with Matisse and his passion for the work of Cézanne and later Gauguin, greatly influenced his aesthetic views and it was under the influence of the French masters that Jawlensky developed his individual colour palette, which would blaze particularly brightly on the eve of the First World War.
* ROERICH, NICHOLAS 1874-1947 Taos Pueblo, New Mexico , stamped with a signature, further stamped twice “Nicholas Roerich Paintings and Art Collections, Inc.” on the reverse. Tempera on canvas, 49.5 by 76 cm. Executed c. 1921.Provenance: Roerich Museum, New York, USA, 1922-1935. Nettie and Louis Horch collection, USA, from 1935.Thence by descent.Private collection, USA.Literature: Probably Roerich Museum Catalogue, New York, Roerich Museum, 1930, no. 122, listed.Roerich, New York, International Cultural Centre “Corona Mundi”, 1924, illustrated and listed as “New Mexico”.Related literature: For similar works, see N. Roerich, Arizona and New Mexico Sketchbook, 1921, Roerich Museum Archives.Taos Pueblo, New Mexico was painted in 1921 and is one of the few surviving works from Roerich’s American period. In all, we know of 15 works which he painted in the Southwest — in New Mexico and Arizona — but the actual whereabouts of only six, and a mere two of these depict the ancient Native American settlement Taos Pueblo. It is one of these two paintings which MacDougall’s is now proud to offer at auction.The legendary Native American pueblo depicted in this work, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, became a place of inspiration for many remarkable artists, and for Roerich was one of his “hallowed grounds”. Of his two-year stay in America Roerich later remarked: “In New Mexico and in the spaces of this beautiful country again sounds for you the anthem of the East… the same note of great vision, of great wisdom.” During his stay in America, Roerich gave numerous lectures in the nation’s museums and universities in which he tried to convey the idea of a new perception in art. He was astounded by the lack of interest in other artistic traditions that he found in the United States in the 1920s. In his desire to change the situation he was instrumental in the opening of The Master Institute of United Arts, the main aim of which was to bring people together through art and culture. Simultaneously in Chicago the Cor Ardens (Flaming Heart) group was established, and in 1923 the Nicholas Roerich Museum opened in New York.Despite the fact that those two years he spent in America, 1920-1923, were filled with a flurry of artistic and academic activity, his religious and cultural research into the Native Americans inspired Roerich to create a series of particularly characteristic and instantly recognisable works.In the works of his American period he skilfully conveys the immediacy of his first impressions of America, a country to which he returned three times after his first visit. His images of the desert which brim with energy and enthusiasm are startlingly life-like. The bright palette and motifs from ancient art, which made such an impression on Roerich as a keen anthropologist and ethnographer, markedly distinguished his works.From an anthropological viewpoint, Roerich was fascinated by the similarities between Native Americans and Mongols and he remarked upon this more than once in his notes: “In 1921 when I became acquainted with the Red Indian pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, I was forced to exclaim repeatedly: “But those are real Mongols!”… And now, having the opportunity to study the Mongols of outer and inner Mongolia, I was involuntarily reminded of the Pueblo Indian. Something inexplicable, fundamental, beyond all superficial theories, unites these nations.”Depicted in the pencil sketches in Roerich’s albums, now preserved in his museum in New York, is not only the structure of Native American tribes, but also their ritual dances and renowned mystical “Vision Quest” ceremonies. Unfortunately, very few of these were transposed to canvas. This very fact further illustrates quite how rare the present work is.The present painting depicts the famous Taos Pueblo, which Nicholas Roerich visited in August, 1921 while vacationing in the neighbouring town of Santa Fe. (There is a well-written account of Roerich’s sojourn in Santa Fe in Ruth Drayer’s Nicholas and Helena Roerich: The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists and Peacemakers.) Taos Pueblo is one of a group of Pueblo Indian settlements which appeared in the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries along the path of the Rio Grande river. This Pueblo consists of adobe dwellings and ceremonial buildings, and exemplifies the traditional architectural arrangement from the pre-Hispanic period in the Americas. Culturally, it marks a significant stage in the history of ancient Pueblo people.In Roerich’s own lists of his works, there is a painting titled Pueblo from 1921 which most probably is the present work. It acquires special significance since the Taos Pueblo appears in two of Roerich’s monumental canvasses from 1923 — The Legend from the Miracle series and Vision. Both, especially The Legend, are among Roerich’s most expressive and mystical artistic statements. Both paintings touch upon the idea of the Messiah, and their iconography references the symbolism of this most cherished and profound concept in spiritual lore. Thus the presence of the Taos Pueblo in both of these works instils this American Indian setting with transcendental rather than geographical meaning.From Roerich’s writings and the accounts of his friends and followers, we know that he understood and venerated the sacred places of the world as the focal points where the energies of the Cosmos meet the Earth. His trip to New Mexico in the summer of 1921 was more than just a summer holiday. The real purpose was seeking “the harmonies of deeper insights and wisdom” at the power centres of the American continent. These visits inspired a series of his most spiritual works executed during his American period.The present painting is more that just a study of native Indian architecture. It serves as an icon, a sign pointing to a culture which emphasizes the bond between man and the natural world. The warm tones of yellow, pink and orange, which display Roerich’s mastery of subtle brushwork, convey his philosophical message. The adobe clay, an otherwise dull material, becomes a beacon of the sun’s permeating light. Set against a serene blue sky, the Pueblo emerges as a fortress and focal point of spiritual energy. We are grateful to Gvido Trepša, Senior researcher at the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York, for providing catalogue information.
SOMOV, KONSTANTIN 1869-1939 Harlequin and Death , signed and dated 1918. Black ink, watercolour and gouache on paper, 28.5 by 22.5 cm. Provenance: Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 5 October 1989, Lot 297.Private collection, Europe.Anonymous sale; Important Russian Pictures, Christie’s, London, 28 November 2007, Lot 385.Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.Private collection, UK.Konstantin Somov’s exquisite drawings and watercolours excited great admiration among his contemporaries and to this day continue to delight aficionados of his astonishing talent, not only in Russia but all around the world. An impeccable draughtsman and striking colourist, Somov strove for excellence and perfection in each one of his compositions, even the smallest. His harmonious use of colour, intuitive tonal balance and fine linear precision make his work instantly recognisable. The evocative intensity of the colours chosen and the depth of light and shade in each of his pieces lend them all, without exception, an extraordinary vibrancy and tremulous lyricism. The subject might be distinguished by a pale, barely perceptible watercolour “ripple”, or by a rich contrast of red and black, tingeing it with emotion and imparting a particular musical quality to it. The artist worked repeatedly on the Harlequin and Death allegory, varying the graphic intonations in new and diverse ways. The decorative style and the unreserved attention that Somov gave to even the tiniest of details are characteristic of the World of Art group, one of the major artistic movements that contributed to the fame of Russian art of the Silver Age.
BILIBINE, IVAN 1876-1942 Courtyard of the Al-Azhar Mosque and University, Cairo , signed, also signed with initials and dated 1928, also further signed and inscribed "23 Bd Pasteur, Paris, XV" on the reverse. Pencil, watercolour and gouache on cardboard, 54.5 by 76 cm. Provenance: Important private collection, Germany.Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert V. Petrov.Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibine was a brilliant draughtsman with a unique style. His instantly-recognisable virtuoso technique, comprising areas of soft watercolour bounded by an elegant line, had already assured him acclaim as a true aesthete during his lifetime. The Bilibine style was born. The artist had many disciples and imitators including two who were quite well-known, Zvorykin and Matorin; yet despite their undoubted talent they only ever managed to mimic the exterior, surface qualities of the master’s work.In fact, Ivan Bilibine remained the unsurpassed innovator of Russian graphic art in the Silver Age, and his illustrations of Russian folk tales and epics are a superlative exemplar of the graphic art of their time. Courtyard of the Al-Azhar Mosque and University, Cairo is not just an everyday oriental scene based on the fruits of his travels in the South. The accuracy with which he conveys the nuances of atmosphere and colour in Cairo, the specifics of architectural detail and the soft afternoon light, as well as the freshness of the composition, all combine to place this work within a group of unique, museum-quality works by this outstanding Russian artist.
AN UNUSUAL MINIATURE TRIPARTITE ICON WITH CHRIST PANTOCRATOR AND CHERUBIM IN A SILVER OKLAD SET WITH SEMIPRECIOUS STONES OKLAD STAMPED WITH MAKER`S MARK OF KUZMA KONOV IN CYRILLIC, MOSCOW, 84 STANDARD 9.5 by 11.5 cm. K.I. Konov crafted a number of stylish pieces after designs by S.I. Vashkov, and also used his techniques of contrasting surface textures, areas of colour, various precious and semiprecious cut stones and a deliberate asymmetry to achieve an unusual aesthetic impact, expressiveness and harmony. Vashkov, whose ideas found their practical expression through Konov, wrote in the journal Religious Art: “...the purpose of icons and church plate...is to nurture and develop man’s aesthetic sense, and therefore they should show conceptual commitment and be highly artistic.” This kind of creative work is brilliantly exemplified by the fine Christ Pantocrator icon. On either side of the Pantocrator are Cherubim who, according to Dionysius the Areopagite, form the first triad of the Angelic Orders, together with the Seraphim and Thrones. The Cherubim are depicted according to Chapter 1 of the Book of Ezekiel, where they appeared with four wings (two raised and two covering the body), four arms and four faces — of a man, lion, ox and eagle. In early times, these “tetramorphic” Cherubim symbolised a single Gospel written by the four evangelists (in the Christian tradition, the aforementioned symbols were attributed to the four gospel-writers). Such imagery was replaced in late and post-Medieval cclesiastical art with cherubim and seraphim with four or six wings and human faces.In terms of cultural history, this Art Nouveau artist’s interpretation is of great interest. Here, an old tradition is uniquely interwoven with a new one — the tetramorphic iconography is seen in the Cherubim’s two extra faces: the eagle and man on the left and the ox and lion on the right.Despite the composition’s apparent simplicity, the icon is distinguished by its clarity and the depth of thought behind it. In Dionysius the Areopagite’s Celestial Hierarchy, the Cherubim’s attributes are described: “the name Cherubim denotes their power of knowing and beholding God, their receptivity to the highest light, their contemplation of the beneficence of the Godhead in Its first manifestation.”Thus, this early 20th century image is a remarkable ecclesiastical artefact, in which new modes of artistic expression combine with the traditional symbolism and theology of the icon.
An Art Deco sapphire single stone ring, circa 1930, the sugar loaf cabochon sapphire with a light violet tinge, rub over set between old brilliant cut diamond single stone shoulders, stamped `Platinum`, maker`s mark BS, finger size K; and a pair of sapphire and diamond ear studs, the central cabochon sapphires set within a surround of old cut diamonds, 1cm diameter
Byzantine Art Vassilaki (Maria), Mother of God, Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine Art, 2000, dust wrapper; Restle (Marcell), Byzantine Wall Painings in Asia Minor, 1969, 3 vols., dust wrappers, slipcase; Pena (Ignacio), The Christian Art of Byzantine Syria, 1997, dust wrapper; James (Liz), Light and Colour in Byzantine Art, 1996, dust wrapper; Stylianou (Andreas) & (Judith A.), The Painted Churches of Cyprus, 1985, dust wrapper; with a quantity of others (qty)
An Good Album of Pre War Postcards, containing approximately four hundred cards, including UK and overseas topography, children, Father Christmas, hold to light, shipping, locomotives, comic, animals, novelty pull-outs, real photographic, greetings, Japanese cards, Harry Payne Policemen, military etc; Book - The Fleet Papers 1841
Westlake (N.H.J.) A History of Design in Painted Glass, 1881-94, 4 vols., folio in fours, original cloth; Holiday (Henry), Stained Glass as an Art, 1896, folding colour frontis, original cloth; Connick (Charles J.), Adventures in Light and Color, 1937, tipped-in colour plates, original cloth; Rushforth (G. McN.), Medieval Christian Imagery, 1936, t.e.g., original cloth (7)
A Victorian 1822 pattern infantry officer`s sword, No. 6270, with slightly curved single edged blade, length approx 82.5cm (worn), brass hilt with folding guard and wire bound fishskin covered grip, in its steel scabbard, together with a Victorian Light Infantry officer`s sword (poor condition), with steel scabbard (rusted).
A Tiffany Studios seven light Favrile glass and patinated bronze Lily table lamp, circa 1910, the gold washed iridescent shades supported on sinuous bronze stems rising from a green and brown patinated foliate formed circular base, five shades engraved `5-L.C.T. Favrile`, one shade engraved `L.C.T. Favrile`, one unmarked, base underside stamped `Tiffany Studios New York 385′, overall height approx 54cm. Provenance: Christie`s New York, Rockefeller Plaza, Important Tiffany & Art Glass from the Minna Rosenblatt Gallery, 10 December 2003, Lot 488; the property of a lady. Further images available at http://blog.tooveys.com
A small collection of Dinky Toys American cars, comprising a No. 131 Cadillac tourer, a No. 132 Packard convertible, a No. 172 Studebaker Land Cruiser, a No. 178 Plymouth Plaza and a No. 192 DeSoto Fireflite sedan, all within colour spot boxes (some paint chips, boxes creased, torn or scuffed), together with a No. 264 RCMP patrol car, boxed (roof light damaged and playwear, box creased and scuffed), a No. 170 Ford Sedan, a Hudson and an estate car (playwear and paint chips).
A Rare `Jordan Valley` Great War Military Cross Group of Four to Lieutenant Leonard Charles Brothers of the Fifth Company, 2nd Battalion, Imperial Camel Corps, Late 1st Company of London Yeomanry, Military Cross GRI (Ammam Lt. L.C. Brothers Imperial Camel Corps E.E.F. 1918), 1914/15 Star (3333 SJT.L.C.Brothers,1st.Co.OF.Lond.Y.), British War and Victory Medals (Liet.L.C.Brothers), mounted for wearing, together with related dress miniatures, graduated bronze camel bell, with shell decorated hessien hanger, and a North African copper cooking pot with cover. London Gazette - 16 September 1918 T./2nd Lt. Leonard Charles Brothers, Gen. List and I.C.C. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He organised the defence under a hot enfilade fire with the greatest ability, and when the majority of the men of his forward left-hand gun had been put out of action, he took charge of the gun himself and retained the position all day.` London Gazette, 16 September, 1918. The 5th Camel Company was a British manned Company drawn from the 53rd Territorial Infantry Division. On 16 December 1916 the 5th Camel Company was absorbed into the 2nd Camel Battalion, under Colonel Robert Buxton. After the breakup of the Imperial Camel Corps on 25 July 1918, the 5th Camel Company remained as a camel formation giving assistance in the Hejaz campaign. T. E. Lawrence and Colonel Buxton`s 2nd Camel Battalion, `In August 1918, via the suggestion of his friend Colonel Dawnay, Lawrence got clearence to use two companies of the Imperial Camel Corps, under Buxton, for a renewed initiative, `Dawnay and i sat down with a map and measured that Buxton should march from the Canal to Akaba, thence by Rumm, to carry Mudowwara by night-attack, thence by Bair to destroy the bridge and tunnel near Amman, and back to Palestine on August thirteenth`, Lawrences first mention of Buxton and the Imperial Camel Corps, such were the achievements of this irregular force over the following weeks- achievements in which Lawrence shared, for he delighted in riding alongside them, that he would dedicate an entire chapter in Revolt in the Desert to their story. In late July 1918, Lawrence visited Buxton and his men for the first time, `Accordingly i went down to Akaba, where Buxton let me explain to each company their march, and the impatient nature of the Allies whom they, unasked, had come to help, begging them to turn the other cheek if their was a row, partly because they were better educated than the Arabs, and therefore less prejudiced, partly because they were very few. After such solemnities came the ride up the oppressive gorge of Itm, under the red cliffs of Nejed and over the breast-like curves of Imran, that slow preparation for Rumms greatness, till we passed through the gap before the rock of Khunail, and into the inner shrine of the springs, with its worship compelling coolness. There the landscape refused to be accessory, but took the skies, and we chattering humans became dust at its feet. It was shortly after this visit, that Colonel Buxton, participated in the reconnaissance from Rumm towards Mudowwara in Arab cloaks, and of the subsequent attack on Mudowwara, Lawrence later wrote `Next morning we heard by aeroplane how Buxtons forces had fared. They decided to assualt it before dawn mainly by means of bombers, in three parties, one to enter the station, the other two for the main redoubts. Accordingly before midnight white tapes were laid as guides to the zero point. The opening had been timed for a quarter to four, but the way proved difficult to find, so that daylight was almost upon them, before things began against the Southern redoubt. after a number of bombs had burst in and about them, the men rushed up and took it easily, to find that the station party had achieved their end a moment before. These alarms roused the middle redoubt, but only for defeat. Its men surrendered twenty minutes later. The northern redoubt, which had a gun, seemed better-hearted and splashed its shot freely into the station yard, and at our troops. Buxton, under cover of the Southern redoubt directed the fire of Brodies guns which, with their usual deliberate accuracy, sent in shell after shell. Siddons came over in his machines and bombed it, while the Camel Corps from North and East and West subjected the breastworks to severe Lewis gun-fire. At seven in the morning, the last of the enemy surrendered quietly. We had lost four killed and ten wounded. The Turks lost twenty-one killed, and one hundred and fifty prisoners, with two field-guns and three machine-guns. Buxton at once set the Turks to getting steam on the pumping engine, so that he could water his camels, while men blew in the wells, and smashed the engine-pumps, with two thousand yards of rail. At dusk, charges at the foot of the water-tower spattered it in single stones across the plan. Buxton, a moment later called `Walk-march!`, to his men, and the three hundred camels, rising like one and roaring like the day of judgement, started off to Jefer. Thence we had news of them. They rested a day, revictualled, and marched for Bair where Joyce and myself had agreed to join them. And so it was, Lawrence rejoining the men of the Camp Corps for several days, a period in which he would undoubtedly have sought out information about the attack on Mudowwara - most likely, too, from one of the heroes of the raid. It was also during this visit to the Camel Corps that Lawrence observed with pride how well the men were progressing, largely thanks to Buxton having made some useful changes. Consequently, our Imperial camel Corps had become rapid, elastic, enduring, silent; except when they mounted by numbers, for then the three hundred camels would roar in concert, giving out a wave of sound audible miles across the night. Each march saw them more workmanlike, more at home on their animals, tougher, leaner, faster. Encouraged by the victory at Mudowwara, Lawrence guided the Camel Corps towards their next target, the railway viaduct at Kissir, South of Amman, a jouney entailing another 120 mile journey behind enemy lines, a daring enterprise best summed up by Buxton `It is not unlike an attempt on the part of the Huns to blow up Waterloo Bridge, as it is many miles at the back of their lines and within five miles of their Army headquarters. But with the promise of Arab support, Lawrence`s leadership and an element of surprise, the matter should not be difficult.` Battle of Amman (1918) - The first British raid on Amman began on 21st March. The Australian 1st and 7th Light Horse Brigades attacked, supported by the Camel Brigade. The raiders were to destroy two key structures in the railroad line, a viaduct and a tunnel, and then retreat back to the Jordan River. Over a twelve day period, British forces advanced toward Amman but were unable to complete the mission because of unfamiliar terrain, torrential downpours, and fierce resistance from Turkish troops.
A Unique `Family Pair` of Great War Bronze Memorial Plaques to Brothers Private A. Jenkins of the 2nd Battalion,Welsh Regiment and Private W. J. Jenkins, 1st Battalion, Royal Guernsey Light Infantry/ Late Welsh Regiment. 39342 Private Arthur Jenkins of the 2nd Battalion Welsh Regiment, died of wounds on the 23rd of August 1916, aged 24 years, Son of John and Hannah Jenkins of 54 Stoughton Street, Grangetown, Cardiff; Husband of Violet Jenkins, he is Remembered with honour at the Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension 1945 Private Walter John Jenkins of the 1st Battalion Royal Guernsey Light Infantry, formerly 33872, Welsh Regiment, was killed in action on the 21st of March 1918, he has no known grave, but is Remembered with honour at the Tyne Cot Memorial. Extract from `Front Line` Newsletter Weston Front Association, South Wales, No. 20 July 1994: "Cardiff Casualties - A few weeks ago I was fortunate to pick up a couple of Death Plaques at a local antiques market. The thing that attracted me to them is that they were quite obviously a pair - that is they belonged together. The surname on each plaque is Jenkins and it was clear from their state of polish that someone had cared for them lovingly for a long time. I asked if there was any provenance but all the dealer was able to give me was that they had been brought in by someone local. Not a lot to start with bearing in mind how common the name Jenkins is in Wales but undeterred I bought them anyway. My first port of call for research was the extensive database of Gwyn Prescott and sure enough Gwyn was able to confirm the two soldiers as being from Grangetown. The following is the account of the remainder of the research which I have been able to do on the two soldiers. Jenkins, Arthur, Pte. 39342, 2nd Battalion the Welsh Regiment. Arthur Jenkins was born and enlisted in Cardiff being the son of John and Hannah Jenkins of 54, Stoughton Street, Grangetown. He was married to Violet Jenkins. He died of wounds received in action on the 23rd August 1916 while his battalion was attached to the 3rd Brigade and was fighting on the Somme. The 2nd Welsh were in the line during the closing days of July when they were involved in an attack adjacent to the Australians on Poziers Ridge. Their initial attack on Munster/Switch Line re-entrant was successful but a concerted counter attack by the Germans drove them out and back to their starting point. It is quite likely that Jenkins was involved in this attack on the 26th July but it is not certain that it was in this action that he received the wounds from which he subsequently died. On the following day the battalion was withdrawn along with the rest of the Division and remained out of action until the 12th August when the Division was sent in to relieve the 34th Division. In this period the fighting was continuous but not as heavy as at other stages of the Somme. The 2nd Welsh were involved in driving out saps so as to gradually advance on the German line. The battalion suffered heavily from sniper and shell fire. During the period 20th to 28th August the battalion lost 45 other ranks killed and 175 wounded. In view of these statistics it is considered most likely that Jenkins received his fatal wounds during this period in the line. Arthur Jenkins was 24 years of age when he died and he is buried at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extensions (S.W. of Albert). Jenkins, Walter John. Pte. 1945 1st Battalion the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry, formerly 33872 The Welsh Regiment Walter John Jenkins, believed to be the brother of the above was born and enlisted in Cardiff and was killed in action on 21st March 1918 while his battalion was attached to the 29th Division and was serving in front of Passchendaele. Initially the RGLI took only Guernseymen in to its ranks but after heavy losses in the Battle of Cambrai men from other areas were taken into the ranks. Jenkins formed part of what is known as Draft 1, i.e. the first group of non-Guernseymen enlisted into the RGLI. Each draft was further divided into Reinforcements which were sent to France. Jenkins was part of either Reinforcements 4 or 6, sent to France in December 1917 or January 1918 since these specifically incorporate men of Draft 1 with numbers higher than 1726. At the time of his death the Passchendaele area was relatively quiet but prone to trench raiding and sniping by both sides which produced a continuous stream of casualties. On the 21st March the RGLI repelled a strong trench raid at the cost of 26 killed and 45 wounded. Jenkins was one of those killed and like many of his comrades of that small action he has no known grave being commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, Passchendaele, where the men of this regiment are listed under the Channel Islands Militia. It is likely that Jenkins had seen service overseas with the Welsh Regiment since he does not qualify for medals whilst with the RGLI."
A Great War Pair to Private H Kelson, Somerset Light Infantry, British War and Victory Medals (14700 Pte. H J Kelson.SOM.L.I.) A Great War Pair to Acting Sergeant G Michael, Royal Artillery, British War and Victory Medals (1477A. Sgt. G Michael. R.A.) British Victory Medal to Private L Palmer, Somerset Light Infantry (5066 Pte. L Palmer. SOM. L.I.) (lot)
A Great War Group of Seven to Lieutenant V. G. Clayton, Royal Marines, British War and Victory Medal (Lieut. V. G. Clayton. R.M.), 1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, Coronation Medal 1937, mounted for wearing, together with related dress miniatures A Bronze Royal Marines Boxing Medal (Officers Light Weight Runner Up Capt V. G. Clayton R.M. 1927) in case of issue A Silver Royal Marines Rifle Association Medal `1928`, in case of issue A Silver Royal Marines Rifle Association Medal `1929`, in case of issue A Silver Royal Marines Rifle Association, in case of issue, (lot).
A Third Reich Double Decal Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police) Helmet, the light alloy shell retaining its original black painted finish, with `salt shaker` ventilation holes and Polizei eagle and NSDAP party shield decals, the inner rim stamped `B x F - Vorschriftsmassig - Lt. Gesetz - 3.5.34` with light alloy comb, and original liner and chin-strap.
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