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Lot Essay
Simon Beilitz (1898-1980) was born in Riga and began befriending Russian artists and collecting and selling their works early in life. He settled in Paris in the mid-twenties and continued to be in touch with Russian artists such as Korovin and Benois and collectors of Russian art, buying and selling Russian antiques.
Known for being extremely discreet, Beilitz was part of a very small group of dealers which included A. Popov, L. Grinberg and Gurevich, who dominated the Russian art market in Paris after the Second World War.
In actual fact, the Russian market was tiny and attracted few collectors when at the same time Russian art was in plentiful supply due to the size of the Russian community that settled in Paris after 1917.
He worked exclusively from his apartment in Paris where he displayed a select group of Russian paintings.
I never met Mr Beilitz, but I remember the vivid recollections of old collectors, now deceased, who spent their lives in pursuit of good Russian pictures and who knew him very well.
People like Aleksandr Polonski, Viktor Provatorov and Nicholas Zubov used to remember the unique display of Russian pictures from all periods on Beilitz's walls.
In theory, everything was for sale, but no-one knew exactly when... To reveal too quickly an interest in a specific work prompted a polite refusal from Beilitz to sell. At the same time, he was always delighted to advise you to buy something else.
Certain collectors returned to Beilitz for years in the hope to purchase what they spotted during their first visit and were always invited to buy something else instead.
At the same time, he maintained good and privileged contacts with art historians, critics and Russian museums. Beilitz is probably the only Russian dealer, living outside Soviet Union to be, for example, mentioned in the Fedorov-Davydov monograph on Levitan, which lists all known works by Levitan. The same remark can be applied to the Repin monograph by Grabar'.
More interested by his research, Beilitz never bothered to learn French properly and relied heavily on his wife for contact with the outside world, other than the Russian art sphere. After her death, alone, he left Paris after giving a portrait of Tolstoi by Pasternak as well as a watercolour by Briullov to the Louvre. Having left France, he was befriended by a young couple who in his company discovered Russian art and over the years acquired his entire collection from which a selection is offered in this sale.
Alexis de Tiesenhausen
Known for being extremely discreet, Beilitz was part of a very small group of dealers which included A. Popov, L. Grinberg and Gurevich, who dominated the Russian art market in Paris after the Second World War.
In actual fact, the Russian market was tiny and attracted few collectors when at the same time Russian art was in plentiful supply due to the size of the Russian community that settled in Paris after 1917.
He worked exclusively from his apartment in Paris where he displayed a select group of Russian paintings.
I never met Mr Beilitz, but I remember the vivid recollections of old collectors, now deceased, who spent their lives in pursuit of good Russian pictures and who knew him very well.
People like Aleksandr Polonski, Viktor Provatorov and Nicholas Zubov used to remember the unique display of Russian pictures from all periods on Beilitz's walls.
In theory, everything was for sale, but no-one knew exactly when... To reveal too quickly an interest in a specific work prompted a polite refusal from Beilitz to sell. At the same time, he was always delighted to advise you to buy something else.
Certain collectors returned to Beilitz for years in the hope to purchase what they spotted during their first visit and were always invited to buy something else instead.
At the same time, he maintained good and privileged contacts with art historians, critics and Russian museums. Beilitz is probably the only Russian dealer, living outside Soviet Union to be, for example, mentioned in the Fedorov-Davydov monograph on Levitan, which lists all known works by Levitan. The same remark can be applied to the Repin monograph by Grabar'.
More interested by his research, Beilitz never bothered to learn French properly and relied heavily on his wife for contact with the outside world, other than the Russian art sphere. After her death, alone, he left Paris after giving a portrait of Tolstoi by Pasternak as well as a watercolour by Briullov to the Louvre. Having left France, he was befriended by a young couple who in his company discovered Russian art and over the years acquired his entire collection from which a selection is offered in this sale.
Alexis de Tiesenhausen