Alexander Evgenievich Yakovlev

Acquired directly from the sister of the artist

The sheet has repaired tears to the middle of the top edge and lower left hand edge. The sheet has slightly discoloure and there are a few light smudges in places. Held in a simple wooden frame and under glass. Unexamined out of frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

 

This beautiful nude study was the basis for the depiction of the young woman who accompanies the winged Pegasus at the head of the procession in Morning from the triptych The Times of Day (see lot 216).

 

Several details such as the elegant posture, the pensive expression, and elongated hands and feet, suggest that this the model might be Anna Pavlova, with whom Yakovlev had an affair.

 

Whilst Yakovlev was working on the triptych The Times of Day, he also completed a large portrait of a nude, which Bautier bought on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels in 1922. "I also had to paint a portrait and some other small works," wrote Yakovlev in a letter to his teacher, Dmitry Kardovsky in January 1924.

 

The graceful silhouette in the sanguine sketch offered here is also recognisably that of Anna Pavlova, reproduced in the 1922 Nude and 1923 Portrait of Anna Pavlova (fig. 1). Yakovlev also incorporated Pavlova's features in the allegorical frescoes, now lost, which he painted for the theatre in Prince Yusupov's Boulogne residence. A great admirer and friend of Pavlova himself, Yusupov recalled, "Yakovlev decorated it with allegorical figures from the Arts; Dance was depicted as Anna Pavlova."

 

 

To be included in the forthcoming Alexander Yakovlev Catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Caroline Haardt de la Baume.