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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF GODDARD AND BRIGITTA LIEBERSON Brigitta Lieberson, the renowned ballerina, was born in 1917 in Berlin as Eva Brigitta Hartwig. In 1930, she made her stage debut in the role of the First Fairy in Max Reinhardt's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She appeared in another Reinhardt production the following year, Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman, before moving to Paris and then to London studying successively under the tutelage of Nicholas Leget and Marie Rambert. Her career swiftly progressed and in 1934 she was invited to join Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russe de Monte Carlo. As a member of the ballet troupe she was required to choose a Russian stage name and selected Vera Zorina. Throughout her career, Vera Zorina worked with the most famous ballet dancers and choreographers of her time including Anton Dolin, Lionid Massine and George Balanchine, whom she married in 1938. She also became a great success in America appearing both on stage and in numerous films including Samuel Goldwyn's The Goldwyn Follies, which featured the famous Undine 'waterlotus' ballet choreographed by Balanchine. In 1946 Zorina married Goddard Lieberson who later became president of Columbia Records, a subsidiary of CBS. Zorina's involvement in the arts continued throughout her life. As her career as a dancer came to a close she turned to music and directed operas for the Santa Fe Opera, The New York City Opera and The Norwegian Opera companies.

Max Beckmann (1884-1950)

Bildnis S.H.

Details

Max Beckmann (1884-1950)
Bildnis S.H.
signed and dated 'Max Beckmann F.28' (upper left)
oil on canvas
24 x 14 in. (61 x 35.5 cm.)
Painted in Frankfurt in 1928

Provenance

The artist's studio.
I.B. Neumann, New York, by 1930; sale, Rains Galleries, New York, 24 January 1936, lot 45.
Anonymous sale, Plaza Art Galleries, New York, 11 April 1940, lot 30.
Goddard and Brigitta Lieberson, New York.

Literature

Parnassus 3, 1931, no. 5 (illustrated p. 16).
E. & B. Göpel, Max Beckmann, Katalog der Gemälde, vol. I, Bern, 1976, no. 290 (illustrated vol. II, pl. 102).

Exhibited

Frankfurt, Kunstverein, September - October 1929, no. 42.
Basel, Kunsthalle, Max Beckmann (1906-1930), August 1930, no. 68.
Munich, Günther Franke, Graphisches Kabinett Günther Franke, Eine Sammlung von Zeitgenossen, September 1930, no. 23.
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Max Beckmann, September - October 1930, no. 55.
Northampton, Smith College Museum of Art, Intertnational exhibition of paintings by contemporary artists, May 1932, no. 13.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

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