Vladimir Vasil Evich Lebedev

Vladimir Vasilievich Lebedev (Russian, 1891-1967) Study for 'At the world's arena', 1923 Indian ink, pencil and bodycolour on paper 32 x 37cm (12 5/8 x 14 9/16in). unframed PROVENANCE: Private collection, Berlin The offered lot is a study for an illustration in the journal Drezina , Petrograd, no.4, 1923, pp.8-9. This illustration was described in a previous issue of the journal ( Drezina , no.3, 1923) in a feature entitled 'Newbald', about Stanley Baldwin, written by 'All Right', the pseudonym of M.A. Bulgakov: 'In the drawing At the world's arena , a circus is depicted, with Chicherin shown among the audience; Baldwin is a trainer and R. Poincaré is in front of him on the stool, portrayed as a bear. At the heart of the scene, not visible at first, is a small 'ass' – Curzon. Yes, this is the way it is; a joker has painted a pile of faeces beneath him! And we suppose that we know the name of that "joker".' «На рисунке "мировая арена" изображена буквально – в виде цирковой, Чичерин находится среди зрителей, Болдуин подвизается в роли дрессировщика, перед ним послушно сидит Р.Пуанкаре в образе медведя на тумбе, а в глубине, так что сразу и не заметишь, нарисован маленький "осел" – Керзон. И... да-да, так оно и есть: какой-то шутник изобразил под ним кучки брызжущего кала! И мы, кажется, догадываемся, как зовут этого "шутника".»

Vladimir Vasilievich Lebedev (Russian, 1891-1967) 'Anarchists', an illustration for Novyii Satyricon magazine, no. 17, 1917 pen and ink 18.5 x 28cm (7 5/16 x 11in). unframed PROVENANCE: Ada Sergeevna Lazo, widow of the artist, Leningrad LITERATURE: Juri Gerchuk [ed.], V. Lebedev; Album , Moscow, Sovetskii Khudozhnik, 1990, illustrated

LEBEDEV, VLADIMIR Years (1891-1967) Still Life with Flowers signed with initials. Oil on canvas, 69 by 48.5 cm. Comment1 Painted in 1931. Provenance: Collection of the artist’’’’s family. Anonymous sale; Russian 20th Century and Avant-garde Art , Phillips London, 27 November 1989, Lot 34. Acquired at the above sale by the previous owner. Private collection, UK. Vladimir Lebedev is rightly regarded as one of the most eye-catching and stylish Russian artists of the 1930s. The very appearance of his sumptuous nudes and scintillating still lifes was a statement of resistance against the harsh stagnation of the Soviet system, working in a showy, picturesque manner which was inspired by early Renoir. The mood of Lebedev’’’’s paintings, drenched in sunshine, carries a powerful charge; they are light and optimistic, delighting the eye with their rich colour and endless interplay of undertones. The way the artist’’’’s brushwork, pulsating with motion, conveys the backlighting of objects and the shimmering juxtaposition of flat surfaces is unsurpassed, preserving in the process the authentic outline of the volumes portrayed. The simple form of the glass vase is practically weightless, and the emerald of the stagnant water in which the tired wild flowers stand is the central note of the palette used for this studio work, in which everything maintains the blissful atmosphere of a warm July evening.

A SOVIET HISTORICAL EDUCATION POSTER ILLUSTRATING A PAINTING BY KLAVDI LEBEDEV, 1936 Veche v Novgorode [The Novgorod Veche], chromolithograph poster depicting a 1907 painting by Klavdi Lebedev, allowed for use in Elementary Schools by Narkompros (Ministry of Education) in the lower left margin, measurements: 51.5 x 67.5 cm (20 1/4 x 26 5/8 in.), published by the Gosudarstvennoe uchebno-pedagogicheskoi iszdatel'stvo, Moscow, 1936 Acquired in Moscow in the 1930's by Dr. Adolphus S. Rumreich Thence by descent Dr. Adolphus S. Rumreich served as the physician at the United States Embassy in Moscow, Russia from 1935 to 1938. While there, he and his wife, Edna Irene Hall Rumreich, assembled a sizeable collection of Russian pre-revolutionary art and books then being sold by the Soviet government. They often accompanied Ambassador Joseph Davies and his wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post, when they visited Torgsin and other Soviet agencies selling antiques to foreign dignitaries.

* Vladimir Vasilievich Lebedev (Russian 1891-1967) Policeman Holding Man with Green Coat gouache on paper 11 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches. Estimate $ 5,000-7,000 Property from the Ralph Esmerian Collection, New York, New York Provenance: Barry Friedman, Ltd., New York, New York