.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Juanita Edwards de Gandarillas was the sister of Agustín Edwards McClure (1878-1941) the long-term Chilean ambassador in London. Her grandfather, George Edwards, settled in Chile after falling in love with a Chilean woman during his service as a physician onboard a British vessel. Subsequently, the Edwards family became one of the most important families in Chile, founding the Banco de A. Edwards y Cia in 1866 in addition to making significant investments in land, railroads, telegraph lines, copper mines, nitrate fields and newspapers.
Juanita Edwards married the diplomat and socialite Don Antonio de Gandarillas. Well-connected and part of the social elite, the couple moved in the same fashionable circles as the artists Christopher Wood, Augustus John and Pablo Picasso, the impressario Serge Diaghilev and musicians and composers including Arthur Rubinstein and Igor Stravinsky.
Given the milieu it is not surprising that the enigmatic Juanita Edwards de Gandarillas posed for some of the most popular artists of the period. Augustus John (see fig. 1) and Giovanni Boldini both captured the sitter's expressive features on canvas. The present portrait, painted much later in 1936, is notable for the sitter's uncomplicated pose and direct gaze. Despite the stylised lines and faceted moulding of the face, Grigor'ev creates a human intimacy between the sitter and the viewer which is intensified by the sitter's large questioning eyes. The eyes create an impression of almost childlike innocence - a quality that counterbalances the maturity of the sitter.
In 1936 Grigor'ev travelled extensively through Brazil, Ecador, Argentina, Peru and Chile. The artist kept a pictorial record of the present portrait in his personal archive (see fig. 2).
Juanita Edwards married the diplomat and socialite Don Antonio de Gandarillas. Well-connected and part of the social elite, the couple moved in the same fashionable circles as the artists Christopher Wood, Augustus John and Pablo Picasso, the impressario Serge Diaghilev and musicians and composers including Arthur Rubinstein and Igor Stravinsky.
Given the milieu it is not surprising that the enigmatic Juanita Edwards de Gandarillas posed for some of the most popular artists of the period. Augustus John (see fig. 1) and Giovanni Boldini both captured the sitter's expressive features on canvas. The present portrait, painted much later in 1936, is notable for the sitter's uncomplicated pose and direct gaze. Despite the stylised lines and faceted moulding of the face, Grigor'ev creates a human intimacy between the sitter and the viewer which is intensified by the sitter's large questioning eyes. The eyes create an impression of almost childlike innocence - a quality that counterbalances the maturity of the sitter.
In 1936 Grigor'ev travelled extensively through Brazil, Ecador, Argentina, Peru and Chile. The artist kept a pictorial record of the present portrait in his personal archive (see fig. 2).