4 June 2014 Russian Art Auctions
4 June 2014
§ 286. POUGNY, JEAN (1894-1956)
Cityscape, signed and dated 1920.
Ink and wash on paper, 24.5 by 20 cm.
7,000-9,000 GBP
Provenance: Collection of Alexander and Alexandra Zavolokine, France.
Exhibited: Pamyati Aleksandra Zavolokina, Galereya Nashi khudozhniki, Moscow, 30 May–20 July 2010.
Literature: Exhibition catalogue, Pamyati Aleksandra Zavolokina, Moscow, Galereya Nashi khudozhniki, 2010, p. 70, illustrated; p. 216, listed as Ulitsa.
The works offered here were assembled by the Moscow collectors, the Zavolokines. The collection is impressive most of all for the quality of the pieces chosen, reflecting its owners’ impeccable taste and fine grasp of their subject matter.
As a couple, the Zavolokines devoted years of their life to the acquisition of Russian and Soviet graphic art of the 1920s and 1930s. Though they were not overly biased towards the top names, their collection contains magnificent work of great significance and artistic merit. First and foremost are the works on paper by Mikhail Sokolov, Dmitri Mitrokhin, Antonina Sofronova, Vera Pestel and Yulia Razumovskaya. The work of these magnificent artists always caused great excitement among collectors because of their sincerity and the masterly way they reflected society around them. Pavel Sokolov-Skalya’s drawing Vagabond is unique. Even in a serious museum collection it would be difficult to find anything to match it for accuracy and poignancy. There is an interesting symbolist composition by Mikhail Yezuchevsky, an artist whom the experts have yet to rediscover. The composition of Sergei Gerasimov’s masterly charcoal drawing catches the eye and its contemporary style is attractive. In terms of Gerasimov’s career 1922 was a landmark year, when the artist embraced new aesthetic principles. Any collector, even the most demanding, could find delight in Boris Sukhanov’s striking watercolour and the drawing by Andrei Goncharov.
Apart from its high artistic and cultural value, the body of work from Alexander and Alexandra Zavolokine’s collection possesses one other rare quality – that for collectors of works on paper these pieces quite clearly serve to broaden the scope of their connoisseurship.
Notes on symbols:
* Indicates 5% Import Duty Charge applies.
Ω Indicates 20% Import Duty Charge applies.
§ Indicates Artist's Resale Right applies.
† Indicates Standard VAT scheme applies, and the rate of 20% VAT will be charged on both hammer price and premium.