World Treasures: Important Russian, Asian, European & American Works
November 13th & 14th, 2012
Day One - Lots 1-549
Day Two - Lots 550-1149


 
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LOT 154
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Lot 154
PAVEL TCHELITCHEW (Russian 1898-1957)
Study for Fata Morgana-
Watercolor on paper
Signed and dated lower right "P. Tchelitchew 39"
13.75 inches x 16.75 inches (35 x 42.5 cm)
Estimate:  $12,000 - 18,000   € 9,240 - 13,860
Price Realized: $14,400.00

Provenance:
The offered lot, according to labels on verso, has passed through a number of interesting hands. According to one such label (Figure 1), the offered lot was acquired from Julien Levy Gallery, New York by Mrs. John E. Abbott of New York, circa 1940. Julien Levy Gallery was in operation at 602 Madison Avenue, New York from 1931-1949. During that time, Mrs. John E. Abbott (Iris Barry) worked as Curator of the Museum of Modern Art’s Film Library while her husband, Mr. John E. Abbott functioned as Director of the Film Library. A label on verso cites a loan to the Museum of Modern Art under the name Abbott and numbered 42.1219 (Figure 2). Presumably, this loan of the offered lot by Mr. and Mrs. John E. Abbott was made to the Museum of Modern Art’s Tchelitchew: Paintings, Drawings exhibition in 1942. An additional label connects the offered lot with Durlacher Bros., New York and numbers the painting 39-88 (Figure 3). Durlacher Bros. and particularly, the gallery’s owner Kirk Askew worked closely with Tchelitchew, indeed, the artist painted a portrait of Kirk Askew’s wife Constance in 1938. It is uncertain when the offered lot was acquired by Mr. Robert H. Holmes, a New York collector who had other Tchelitchew works in his care such as The Seer (Christie’s, New York, Interiors, August 2012, Lot 53). According to a label on verso (Figure 4), Holmes presumably loaned the offered lot to the Gallery of Modern Art, New York for their exhibition Pavel Tchelitchew in 1964. The label references Holmes and numbers the piece 198 c.1964.



Literature:
James Thrall Soby, Tchelitchew: Paintings, Drawings, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art), page 94 (unillustrated).

Gene Downs, “Major Artists You Might Not Have Heard Of”, a newspaper article for the Savannah Morning News, October 4, 1998, page 8E and 15E (illustrated).



Exhibited:
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Tchelitchew: Paintings, Drawings, 1942 as #160.

Also, presumably at New York, Museum of Modern Art, Modern Drawings, February-May 1944 and presumably at New York, Gallery of Modern Art, Pavel Tchelitchew, March-April 1964.


Also Savannah, Georgia, Bohemia Gallery. Works by Tchelitchew and Emanuel Romaro, October –November 1998.


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