Fragmented construction

Details

ALEKSEI REMIZOV (1877-1957)
Fragmented construction
signed with artist's device (lower right); further signed in Cyrillic, further signed with artist's device, inscribed in Russian and dated 'This is the last and only surviving work/my eyes have grown weak this last year and cannot capture/with any net - my graph/ic constructions, farewell!/And this is the last one for you, Leonid Mikhailovich,/ in gratitude for/the Dancing Demon/Neither you, nor Sergei Mikhailovich, can imag/ine how much good you both/did for me. Just think:/for 18 years (1931-1949) I lived with/my mouth shut./A. Remizov 26X1950/Paris' (on the reverse)
ink and collage on card; unframed
10 ½ x 8 ¼ in. (26.3 x 20.8 cm.)

Provenance

A gift from the artist to Leonid Lifar (1906-1982), the owner of a printing house in Paris and the brother of the ballet dancer Serge Lifar (1905-1986).
Acquired by the present owner in Paris in 2020.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Margo Oganesian Head of Department, Fabergé and Russian Works of Art

moganesian@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2783

Lot Essay

Aleksei Remizov was close friends with Serge Lifar, the notable ballet dancer and choreographer, and his brother Leonid, the owner of a printing house in Paris, which printed books for YMCA-Press, corresponding with them for years while living in Paris. The inscription on the reverse of the present lot makes reference to the publication of Remizov's novel The Dancing Demon, which was published in 1949 and sponsored by Serge Lifar. By 1949, Remizov had not been published for 18 years, and Remizov's dismay at the long wait in the aforementioned inscription is evident. YMCA-Press would go on to print Remizov's With trimmed eyes: the book of knots and twists of memory in 1951.

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