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Lot Essay
The present portrait is a larger and more finished version of a rapidly executed gouache illustrated in Boris Grigor'ev's Faces of Russia (London, 1924, p. 17) and Jar-ptitsa (1923, no. 11; Fig. 1).
A natural progression from Rasseïa (see lot 172), the Faces of Russia (Liki Rossii) cycle executed between 1920-31 included portraits strongly influenced by the traditions of icon painting. In 1923 the Moscow Arts Theatre, directed by Stanislavsky, produced three plays at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris including Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Gorky's The Lower Depths and Tolstoi's Tsar Fedor Ioannovich. Grigor'ev sketched the actors, including Olga Knipper and Ivan Moskvin, backstage whilst they prepared for their roles and many of these were illustrated in his book published first in Paris in 1923 and later in London in 1924.
Vasilii Ivanovich Kachalov (1875-1948) joined the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1901, performing a variety of roles ranging from Chekhov's Baron Tusenbach to Dostoevsky's Ivan Karamazov. In 1923, he played the lead in Aleksei Tolstoi's Tsar Fedor Ioannovich, an historical drama penned in 1868. In addition to the pose Grigor'ev captured in the present portrait there are two further works depicting Kachalov in this role: the sketch 'V. Kachalov making himself up for the part of Czar Feodor' (B. Grigoriev, Faces of Russia, London, 1924, p. 41.) and an oil painting depicting Tsar Fedor with two advisors (The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg). Kachalov's pose in the present portrait is perhaps the strongest image of the actor in this role as Claude Farrere wrote,'[It] shows a weary pale face, illuminated by the inner light of an ascetic. Every element of his portrait appears long, straight and narrow, like a church candle or a byzantine icon, reminding us of martyrs painted by El Greco; we recognise the saint through the traits of the idle King, and the physical wretchedness of a degenerate, the last descendent of a Viking race, is enlightened by an inner splendour. It gives a full impression of the theocratical power of this poor mind, the crowned lunatic, great in his abdication and holy in his weakness.'. (Boris Grigor'ev, Faces of Russia, London, 1924, p. 46.)
A natural progression from Rasseïa (see lot 172), the Faces of Russia (Liki Rossii) cycle executed between 1920-31 included portraits strongly influenced by the traditions of icon painting. In 1923 the Moscow Arts Theatre, directed by Stanislavsky, produced three plays at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris including Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Gorky's The Lower Depths and Tolstoi's Tsar Fedor Ioannovich. Grigor'ev sketched the actors, including Olga Knipper and Ivan Moskvin, backstage whilst they prepared for their roles and many of these were illustrated in his book published first in Paris in 1923 and later in London in 1924.
Vasilii Ivanovich Kachalov (1875-1948) joined the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1901, performing a variety of roles ranging from Chekhov's Baron Tusenbach to Dostoevsky's Ivan Karamazov. In 1923, he played the lead in Aleksei Tolstoi's Tsar Fedor Ioannovich, an historical drama penned in 1868. In addition to the pose Grigor'ev captured in the present portrait there are two further works depicting Kachalov in this role: the sketch 'V. Kachalov making himself up for the part of Czar Feodor' (B. Grigoriev, Faces of Russia, London, 1924, p. 41.) and an oil painting depicting Tsar Fedor with two advisors (The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg). Kachalov's pose in the present portrait is perhaps the strongest image of the actor in this role as Claude Farrere wrote,'[It] shows a weary pale face, illuminated by the inner light of an ascetic. Every element of his portrait appears long, straight and narrow, like a church candle or a byzantine icon, reminding us of martyrs painted by El Greco; we recognise the saint through the traits of the idle King, and the physical wretchedness of a degenerate, the last descendent of a Viking race, is enlightened by an inner splendour. It gives a full impression of the theocratical power of this poor mind, the crowned lunatic, great in his abdication and holy in his weakness.'. (Boris Grigor'ev, Faces of Russia, London, 1924, p. 46.)