Filipp Maliavin (1869-1940)

Anatoly Lunacharsky (1875-1933), Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) and Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

Details

Filipp Maliavin (1869-1940)
Anatoly Lunacharsky (1875-1933), Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) and Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
signed 'Ph Maliavine' (lower right) and with number '473' (upper right)
pencil and chalk on paper
11¾ x 17 3/8 in. (30 x 44.2 cm.)
with authentication in Russian from the artist's son (on the reverse)
Drawn in 1921

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 23 February 1983, lot 210.
Acquired from the above sale by Nina and Nikita D. Lobanov-Rostovsky.
Acquired by the present owner in London circa 1990.

Literature

V. Shabelnikov, 'Prizhiznennye portrety Lenina [Lifetime portraits of Lenin]', Nashe Nasledie [Our heritage], II (8) 1989, illustrated p. 5.
J. Bowlt, N. and N. D. Lobanov-Rostovsky, Encyclopedia of Russian Stage Design, China, 2013, illustrated and listed no. 786, p. 302.

Brought to you by

Iona Ballantyne

iballantyne@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2210

Lot Essay

Drawn the year before Maliavin's emmigration to France in 1922, this triple portrait belongs to a series of sketches he completed of Kremlin party leaders. Following his introduction to Vladimir Lenin by Anatoly Lunacharsky, the artist was permitted to sketch the authorities from life with a view to creating a formal portrait; the finished oil was never realised.

More from Russian Art

View All