ILYA EFIMOVICH REPIN | Portrait of Leo Tolstoy

Vasily Levi, Finland
K.G.Lenbom, Sweden
Acquired in Mexico from a Russian immigrant by the father of the present owner in the early 1970s

Petrograd, The First State Free Art Exhibition, 1919 
Stockholm, Liljewalch's Konsthall, 1919
New York, Kingore Galleries, The Ilya Repin Exhibition, 1921, no.12

C.Brinton, The Ilya Repin Exhibition, New York, 1921, no.12 listed; illustrated b/w

Structural Condition The artist's painted linoleum has been lined onto linen and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher. This is providing an even and stable structural support. The textured pattern of the linoleum is clearly visible through the paint layers. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. The paint surface displays an overall pattern of fine lines of craquelure. These are entirely stable. There is also a network of drying craquelure within the dark paint of the background in the upper part of the composition, most notably to the right of Tolstoy's head. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows scattered retouchings, including: 1) scattered retouchings in the lower left, right and upper left corners covering historic paint losses, 2) a few small retouchings within the lower part of Tolstoy's clothing, 3) several retouchings within the dark background to the right of his beard and some further retouchings towards the centre of the left edge, and 4) a few small spots and lines of retouching within Tolstoy's face including a few tiny lines within his left eye. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition.
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The present portrait of Leo Tolstoy is one of several studies the artist made of the author over the course of their long-lasting friendship. Repin and Tolstoy met for the first time on 7^th October 1880, when the prolific author wandered into his studio in Moscow during a visit from his estate at Yasnaya Polyana. Repin was thrilled to meet Tolstoy in person, and this meeting of two greats, both already famous in their own right, flourished into a friendship which would last over thirty years. Repin found the well-known author to be a fascinating subject, writing ‘as far as I can see, after his face, all other faces seem boring and lacking in curiosity’ (Letter from Repin to V.G.Chertkov, 16^th October 1891). Tolstoy posed for Repin on a number of occasions at Yasnaya Polyana, the resulting paintings now hanging in major museums such as the State Tretyakov Gallery and State Russian Museum, as well as at the author’s estate. As the renowned arts critic Vladimir Stasov said, Repin was able to portray ‘the inner creative workings of the great man’s mind’ (A.L. Kagarin, Repin: His Artistic Legacy, USSR: Academy of Science, 1949, vol.2, p.380).

The present lot is a version of a full-length portrait of Tolstoy painted in 1901 now at the State Russian Museum, (fig.2). The full-length portrait captures Tolstoy during a moment of one of his so-called ‘prayers’: his pose with his hands tucked into the belt wrapped around his linen rubakha, the traditional peasant shirt which became synonymous with the author, and the red book protruding from the pocket are motifs which Repin borrowed for the present work.

Completed in 1916, this portrait was painted at Repin’s estate at Penaty, six years after the death of Tolstoy. Due to the shortages caused by the First World War, canvas was increasingly difficult to acquire, and, as with many of his other compositions from this period, this work was painted on linoleum, the embossed pattern of which can be seen in places through the paint surface.

The portrait was acquired by Vassily Levi, an artist and agent who represented the Repin family from 1918. Levi sold the work to K.G.Lenbom in early May 1920 along with a number of other works, all of which were destined for the Repin exhibition in New York in 1921 which was organised by Levi alongside Christian Brinton (fig.3).

We would like to thank Liudmila Andrushchenko for providing additional cataloguing information.