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Lot Essay
Alexandre Iacovleff executed this portrait of Boris Grigoriev in Paris in 1921, when they were organising the first exhibition of Mir Iskusstva [World of Art] in emigration. Iacovleff, Grigoriev and other organisers and participants of the exhibition: Vasilii Shukhaev (1887-1973), Serge Sudeikin (1882-1946) and Nikolai Remizov (1887-1975) had not only lived in St Petersburg, but they were also fellow students in the workshop of Professor Dmitry Kardovsky (1866-1943) at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In the early period of their emigration they collaborated with each other: Iacovleff and Shukhaev opened an art school, and Iacovleff and Sudeikin decorated shop windows together. Sudeikin, Shukhaev and Remizov worked as production-designers for Nikita Balieff’s (1876-1936) theatre La Chauve-Souris in Paris. Only Grigoriev engaged exclusively in art and was looking for ways of promoting his work. His isolation could be partly explained by his 'rather difficult and intolerable' character (E. Yakovleva, Vasilii Shukhaev. Zhizn' i tvorchestvo [Life and work], Moscow, 2010, p. 30).
As Shukhaev remembers, during this period, 'Grigoriev had an idea that one of the artists should paint his portrait' (ibid, p. 31). He asked Iacovleff, who agreed and suggested that they create 'two portraits: his and Grigoriev's, and that they work simultaneously: Grigoriev would be working on the portrait of Iacovleff and Iacovleff would be working on the portrait of Grigoriev' (ibid, p. 31). Iacovleff drew Grigoriev’s portrait in sanguine in three sessions, and later painted a portrait in oil after this drawing, where he substituted his hairstyle and hat for a curly fringe. Iacovleff depicted only Grigoriev's head, placing it diagonally within the composition. 'Grigoriev’s portrait was very successful and made a big impression at all the exhibitions' (ibid, p. 31), Shukhaev recalled, referring to the oil portrait, whereas 'Grigoriev never managed to create Iacovleff’s portrait' (ibid, p. 31). Years later 'Grigoriev asked Iacovleff to sell him this portrait' (ibid, p. 31), but the artist gave it to him as a present. Iacovleff and Shukhaev displayed the oil portrait for the first time at their joint exhibition at the Galerie Barbazanges in November 1921, and in 1923 Grigoriev published it in his monograph Visages de Russie, Paris, 1923.
We are grateful to Elena Yakovleva, Doctor of Art History, Senior Researcher of the Russian Institute of Art History, St Petersburg for providing this catalogue note.
As Shukhaev remembers, during this period, 'Grigoriev had an idea that one of the artists should paint his portrait' (ibid, p. 31). He asked Iacovleff, who agreed and suggested that they create 'two portraits: his and Grigoriev's, and that they work simultaneously: Grigoriev would be working on the portrait of Iacovleff and Iacovleff would be working on the portrait of Grigoriev' (ibid, p. 31). Iacovleff drew Grigoriev’s portrait in sanguine in three sessions, and later painted a portrait in oil after this drawing, where he substituted his hairstyle and hat for a curly fringe. Iacovleff depicted only Grigoriev's head, placing it diagonally within the composition. 'Grigoriev’s portrait was very successful and made a big impression at all the exhibitions' (ibid, p. 31), Shukhaev recalled, referring to the oil portrait, whereas 'Grigoriev never managed to create Iacovleff’s portrait' (ibid, p. 31). Years later 'Grigoriev asked Iacovleff to sell him this portrait' (ibid, p. 31), but the artist gave it to him as a present. Iacovleff and Shukhaev displayed the oil portrait for the first time at their joint exhibition at the Galerie Barbazanges in November 1921, and in 1923 Grigoriev published it in his monograph Visages de Russie, Paris, 1923.
We are grateful to Elena Yakovleva, Doctor of Art History, Senior Researcher of the Russian Institute of Art History, St Petersburg for providing this catalogue note.