Iurii Pavlocich Annenkov (1889-1974), painter and graphic artist, designer for theatre and cinema and master of book design. Born Petropavlovsk-onKamchatka, Annenkov entered the University of St.Petersburg in 1908, at the same time attending lessons in the studio of Savelii Zeidenberg, then in 1909-10 the studio of Ian Tsionglinskii, before studying in Paris under Denis and Valloton. On his return to Russia Annenkov became an active member of the artistic life in Petrograd with a distinct leaning towards the theatre. The early years of the Revolution, despite practical difficulties, proved very productive for many artists, the atmosphere stimulating creativity, to which Annenkov often recalled. At this time he concentrated on paiting and graphics, especially book illustrration and contributions to satirical journals, and in the decoration of twons for revolutionary mass festivals, participating in the Petrograd 1st May celebrations in 1918, and in Moscow for the 7th November anniversary. He also participated as artist and designer in other mass demonstratons in Petrograd including 'The Mystery of Free Labour' at the Bourse, and 'The Taking of the Winter Palace' in Uritskii (formerly Palace) Square on 7th November 1921. As early as 1913 he was involved in the theatre collaborating with Nikolai Evreinov, Nikolai Kul'bin and Ivan Puni, as well as other artists such as Mstislav Dobuzhinskii and Vladimir Shchuko. Annenkov was particularly noted as a portraitist portraying V.I.Lenin, L.Trotskii, A.V.Lunacharskii, V.A.Antonov-Ovsenko and G.Zinov'ev in politics, M.Gorkii, Vs.E.Meierhol'd, A.Akhmatova, B.Pasternak and A.Benois among a host of other artists and writers. The portrait of A.N.Tikhonov, Painted in 1922, was exhibited in the XVI International Art Exhibition in Venice along with the portraits of Trotskii and Polonskii. In 1924 Annenkov emigrated to Paris where he remained for the rest of his life and worked particularly in stage and cinema design and as an illustrator of books. Aleksandr Nikolaevich Tikhonov (1880-1956), Russian author and noted literary personage. Born in Verkhane-Serginskii Zavod, Tikhonov became active in the literary world from 1910. With Maksim Gor'kii he organised the Circle of Proletarian Writers in the newspaper 'Pravda', editing the first and second collections of their works in 1914 and 1917. He also edited the journal 'Letopis' published in Paris 1915-17, the paper 'Novaia zhizn' in 1917-18. After the October Revolution he managed the publishers 'Vsemirnaia Literatura' from 1918-24, at the same time editing 'Vostok', 'Russkii Sovremennik' and 'Sovremennyi Zapad'. From 1930 until 1936 he directed the publishing house 'Academia' and was one of the editors of the series 'The History of Mills and Factories', 'The lives of remarkable People' and 'The Historical Novel' until 1941. During the war against fascism he ran the publishers 'Soviet Writer'. In his book 'Time and People. Memoirs 1898-1905' published in 1949, he wrote of his meetings with Gor'kii, Chekhov, L.Tolstoi and K.Stanislavskii. The third edition of the book appeared in Moscow in 1960. The print in the left top corner is after a painting by Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen (1813-1886) entitled Schickalsgenossen (1855) which was sold by Christie's Amsterdam, 11 November 1987, lot 465. [We are most grateful to Rene Guerra for his assistance in preparing the above catalogue entry]