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Lot Essay
Marie Vassilieff was one of the first Russian artists to settle in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. She arrived in Paris in 1905 on a grant from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, moving permanently to the City of Lights in 1907. In 1910, she founded the Académie Russe which in 1912 became the Académie Vassilieff. The studio and canteen she opened there quickly became a key place for the Parisian Avant-Garde. The city's brightest artists including Picasso, Léger (who gave lectures there on modern art in 1913 and 1914), Braque and Modigliani were often to be found there. Surrounded and inspired by the movement's masters, Vassilieff was quick to embrace Cubism, as is illustrated by her early work, A cubist portrait (1913). However, her personal style is already discernable by this point. Where analytical Cubism focused on ochre and grey, Vassilieff explored a bright chromatic palette with vibrant blues, reds and yellows. In 1915, Vassilieff was one of fourteen exhibitors in St Petersburg for the last Futurist exhibition 0,10 along with Kliun, Popova and Malevich among others. In 1916 she was one of the exhibitors at the Paul Poiret Gallery when Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was first revealed to the public. Vassilieff belonged to the Section d'Or, the group of artists at the heart of the European Avant-Garde where Suprematism, Futurism and Constructivism converged, influences which are discernable throughout her oeuvre.
In The dance Vassilieff expresses the essence of her three characters in stylised forms, using bold patches of monochromatic colour. Bewitched by Paris and the artists working there, Vassilieff nevertheless is also a deeply Slavonic artist, whose work, including The dance reveals the influence of the Russian lubok: 'Vassilieff's compositions show with especial clarity the Slavonic sense of image surviving a long training in French schools of thought', J. Gordon, Modern French Painters, New York, 1923, p. 170. This emphasis is where she breaks away from Cubism, emphasizing her personal vision of modernity through simplified shapes and bright colours. The lubok's contribution to the Russian avant-garde was as paramount to its development as tribal art was to the Cubist revolution: consider its simplified design, flat perspective and oversized figures who dominate the foreground. Vassilieff's understanding and expression of modernity was heavily located in the folk tradition of her native land.
When Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, a violent reaction ensued in France with some Russians being placed under house arrest. Marie Vassilieff was in Fontainebleau at this point and remained there for almost a year. As such, while not expressly dated, The dance was most likely painted on her return to her Parisian studio in 1919.
One of the most colourful personalities of Montparnasse, Vassilieff's work embodies a sublime fusion of her native Russian sensibilities with the energy and experimentation of Paris in the early 20th century.
In The dance Vassilieff expresses the essence of her three characters in stylised forms, using bold patches of monochromatic colour. Bewitched by Paris and the artists working there, Vassilieff nevertheless is also a deeply Slavonic artist, whose work, including The dance reveals the influence of the Russian lubok: 'Vassilieff's compositions show with especial clarity the Slavonic sense of image surviving a long training in French schools of thought', J. Gordon, Modern French Painters, New York, 1923, p. 170. This emphasis is where she breaks away from Cubism, emphasizing her personal vision of modernity through simplified shapes and bright colours. The lubok's contribution to the Russian avant-garde was as paramount to its development as tribal art was to the Cubist revolution: consider its simplified design, flat perspective and oversized figures who dominate the foreground. Vassilieff's understanding and expression of modernity was heavily located in the folk tradition of her native land.
When Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, a violent reaction ensued in France with some Russians being placed under house arrest. Marie Vassilieff was in Fontainebleau at this point and remained there for almost a year. As such, while not expressly dated, The dance was most likely painted on her return to her Parisian studio in 1919.
One of the most colourful personalities of Montparnasse, Vassilieff's work embodies a sublime fusion of her native Russian sensibilities with the energy and experimentation of Paris in the early 20th century.