Leonid Ossipovich Pasternak

LEONID OSSIPOVICH PASTERNAK (RUSSIAN 1862-1945) Self-Portrait in a Yellow Sheepskin Coat , c. 1925 watercolor and pencil on paper 34.2 x 26.4 cm. (13 1/2 x 10 5/8 in.) Acquired from the family of the artist Private Collection, New York Sold with a photo-certificate by E. Zhuvokva, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, dated May 19, 2003

LOT 164 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, ENGLAND LEONID PASTERNAK 1862 - 1945 PORTRAIT OF LEO TOLSTOY 100,000—150,000 GBP 77.5 by 66cm, 30 1/2 by 26in. signed in Cyrillic l.l. oil on canvas PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist, 1941Thence by descent to the present owners CATALOGUE NOTE Pasternak first met Leo Tolstoy in Holy Week, 1893, the daybefore the opening of the 21st Wanderers' exhibition inMoscow. 'Tolstoy suddenly began to look hard at the pictures, as ifhe were drilling a hole in the air. All of a sudden I had thefeeling that his affectionate nature and his simplicity were theresult of inner self-discipline and control over his immensepersonality. I saw the flash and the flare of lightening. I saw athunderstorm with muffled peals of thunder rumbling behind thestorm-clouds. This was the Tolstoy whom I later tried to depict inmy profile portrait against the stormy sky' (quoted in J.Pasternak,The Memoirs of Leonid Pasternak, 1982). 'I always had a special feeling about him, a kind of aweperhaps... I would have sat and looked only at him... neithertalked to him nor wanted him to talk, but only look... I told youabout my idea, my wanting to paint his portrait – not an ordinary,photographic one, but a 'creative' all-encompassing one. In a word,to create L.N.'s powerful, monumental character! To me he willalways be like a force of nature! There is something elementalabout him.' (Leonid Pasternak in a letter to P.A.Sergeenko). He did indeed later 'capture this moment in a masterly drawing'(D.Buckman in Leonid Pasternak: A Russian Impressionist, 1974), andthe artist himself was evidently pleased with the resultingcomposition: he originally made two pastels of this image in 1901(fig.1); a third pastel was commissioned for Edward Steiner'sTolstoy the Man in 1903, and he made an etching of the image in1906. According to Rimgalia Salys, Pasternak painted two versionsof this composition when he lived in Germany: one in the collectionof the Pasternak Family Oxford, the second (the present lot) in aprivate collection, Cambridge.

Leonid Pasternak (1862-1945) Lilacs and poppies signed 'L. Pasternak' (lower right) oil on canvas 30 x 23¾ in. (76.2 x 60.3 cm.) Леонид Пастернак Известный в первую очередь как портретист, запечатлевший своих знаменитых друзей, таких как Толстой и Эйнштейн, Леонид Пастернак в течение своей карьеры написал также несколько натюрмортов в стиле импрессионизма. Настоящая работа, выполненная очень экспрессивными густыми мазками, создает ощущение вневременности, характерное почти для всех бытовых сцен и портретных набросков художника. Lot Notes Known primarily as a portraitist--capturing famous friends like Tolstoy and Einstein--Leonid Pasternak also completed a number of impressionistic still lifes throughout his career. The present work, executed with highly expressive brushstrokes and thick impasto, creates the sense of timelessness that pervades nearly all of the domestic scenes and portrait studies that defined the artist's career.

LOT 22 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, EUROPE LEONID PASTERNAK RUSSIAN, 1862 - 1945 AT K.A. KOROVIN'S 'OLD TIME SONGS': CHALIAPIN AND THE ARTISTS 40,000—60,000 USD measurements 16 by 20 in. alternate measurements 41 by 51 cm signed in Cyrillic (lower right) and dated 26 December 1912 (lower left) mixed media on paper laid down on board PROVENANCE Private Collection, Germany (acquired directly from the artist in 1913) Thence by descent LITERATURE AND REFERENCES Rimgaila Salys, Leonid Pasternak: The Russian Years, 1875-1921: A Critical Study and Catalogue, New York, 1999, vol. 1, p. 46 Pasternak executed multiple variations of this image of Konstantin Korovin's name day party; two depict Korovin, Chaliapin, A.M. Vasnetsov, Arkhipov, Tuchkov and Prince Shcherbatov grouped around a table, while a third (the present lot) depicts Pasternak in place of Vasnetsov. CATALOGUE NOTE Pasternak executed multiple variations of this image of Konstantin Korovin's name day party; two depict Korovin, Chaliapin, A.M. Vasnetsov, Arkhipov, Tuchkov and Prince Shcherbatov grouped around a table, while a third (the present lot) depicts Pasternak in place of Vasnetsov. Pasternak later recalled the party, writing "Tuchkov was absolutely besotted with Chaliapin, mainly because of the way the latter could sing gypsy romances. Chaliapin was aware of this and on these occasions would play tricks on Tuchkov. At the point where Tuchkov had become quite ecstatic in his passionate accompaniment, Chaliapin would quite deliberately sing a note slightly off-key. Tuchkov would...become fierce with anger" (R. Salys, Leonid Pasternak: The Russian Years , 1875-1921, p. 105).

Leonid Pasternak (1862-1945) Still life with hyacinths, tulips, hollyhocks and peonies signed 'L. Paster...' (upper left); signed and inscribed 'MeinenKindren/Lydia u Eliot/L. Pasternak' (on the reverse) oil on canvas 26¼ x 35 7/8 in. (66.6 x 91.2 cm.) Painted in 1935-38 Pre-Lot Text Property of The Pasternak Trust Provenance By direct descent in the artist's family to The PasternakTrust. Lot Notes A leading portraitist and illustrator, Leonid Pasternak was awidely respected and profoundly influential artist of hisgeneration. Born in Odessa, Pasternak studied medicine and lawbefore pursuing his true vocation at the Royal Academy of Fine Artsin Munich in 1884. After completing his military service, Pasternakmoved to Moscow and taught at the Moscow School of Painting,Sculpture and Architecture from 1894. He exhibited with thePeredvizhniki and Mir Iskusstva and was a founding member of theUnion of Russian Artists. The portraits of his contemporaries,which Pasternak painted with remarkable wit, document the leadingpersonalities in the world of art, music, literature and politics:Leo Tolstoy (1901), Maxim Gorky (1906), Alexander Scriabin (1909),Feodor Chaliapin (1912), Gordon Craig (1912), Sergei Rachmaninov(1913), Lenin (1921), Albert Einstein (1927). Having moved toBerlin in 1921, Pasternak had two one-man exhibitions at theGalerie Hartberg (1927, 1932). However, Nazi persecution in theyears preceding World War II forced the Pasternaks to seek refugein Oxford, England, where the artist lived until his death in1945. Hailed as a 'Russian Impressionist' for his ability to harness theeffects of colour and light and capture the most fleeting signs ofmovement, Pasternak is renowned for his interior family scenesexecuted in watercolour or coloured chalks which invite the viewerinto his intimate circle. The present painting is a rare example ofPasternak's work in the genre of still life. The intense palette ofyellow, pink and red draws the viewer into the composition, whichis conceived to cause the eye to dart along the stems to the veryedges of the canvas. In this way, Pasternak breathes life into thecomposition, involving the viewer and encouraging him to considerthe transience of the blooms. As Édouard Manet, a pivotal figure inthe development of Impressionism, once said: "A painter can expressall that he wants with fruit or flowers."