The present work, along with the drawing of Burliuk's wife Marussia (lot 348), had been part of the American Regionalist painter Clyde Singer's collection. While the two artists never met, they did correspond through letters and exchanged examples of their art. In a 1993 letter to a collector, Clyde Singer wrote of this exchange:
'I would send him a batch of mine, usually small, and he would, in his words 'revenge' by sending me a package of his. I never met him personally, merely corresponded as he was a great communicator. His life years were 1882-1967...I don't know precisely what attracted me to his work but I like it - which is reason enough. Over the years most of it has slipped away mostly by dealers for resale. Burliuk's son, one of two, for a while operated a small gallery on East 57th St. in New York which I visited during its short life. He always had little miniatures by his father. I have no info on the little painting you have. I'm sorry to have them get away from me as I have owned several dozens of his paintings and drawings.'
We are thankful to Pat McCormick at The Butler Institute of American Art for his assistance with cataloguing the present work.