Pavel Tchelitchew

Lot Description Pavel Tchelitchew (RUSSIAN, 1898-1957) Skull signed and dated 'P. Tchelitchew 44' (lower right) ink and wash on paper 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm.) Executed in 1944. Provenance with Robert Isaacson Gallery, New York. Pre-Lot Text PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF GERTRUDE STEIN View Lot Notes › We are grateful to Mr. Erik La Prade for his assistance in cataloguing this work. The present work is from a series of anatomical studies, Interior Landscapes, begun shortly after Tchelitchew's 1942 retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art. Tchelitchew portrayed various parts of the human anatomy such as the head, the ear, and the skull in Translucent Renderings. The present work is an excellent example of the head rendered as an individual universe, undefiled by physical decay.

PAVEL TCHELITCHEW (RUSSIAN 1898-1957) Santa Margarita , 1936 ink on paper laid on board 29.2 x 22.2 cm. (11 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.) signed P. Tchelitchew 36 upper lef inscribed on verso Merry X-mas to Jean, Ms Ford from Pavel with Love. X-mas 1936 Collection of Ruth and Charles Henri Ford Sotheby````s New York, October 7, 1986 Lot 167 This piece is a study for a stained glass window

250 PAVEL TCHELITCHEW Leaves Children from Hide & Seek , 1939 ink and watercolour on paper 47 × 31 cm (18 1/2 × 12 1/8 in) Signed and dated ‘Pavel Tchelitchew 1939’’ lower left. ESTIMATE £10,000 - 15,000 ‡ PROVENANCE Collection Julien and Jean Levy Tajan, Paris, ‘Hommage à Julien Levy’’, 5 October 2004, lot 43 Private Collection, Europe EXHIBITED Purchase, New York, Neuberger Museum New York, Richard Feigen Gallery Los Angeles, Zeitlen & ver Brugge Booksellers Contact Specialist Request Condtion Report Recieve Email alerts View catalogue Purchase catalogue Annual subscriptions

Pavel Tchelitchew (Russian, 1898-1957) Royal Palace - Nightfall, for Rimsky-Korsakov's Coq d'Or , Berlin, 1923 inscribed 'III act' in Cyrillic on the upper margin and 'III aufzug' in German on the lower right margin, outside the painted area; the verso with atelier stamp gouache and gold-coloured speckles on card sheet: 48 x 60.5cm (18 7/8 x 23 13/16in).; sight: 38 x 59.5cm (14 15/16 x 23 7/16in). PROVENANCE: Estate of the artist With Richard Nathanson, London Purchased from the above by the present owner in January 1977 EXHIBITED: London, The Alpine Club, W1, arranged by Richard Nathanson, Pavel Tchelitchew 1898-1957: A Collection of Fifty-four Theatre Designs c. 1919-1923 , 13-22 December, 1976, no. 52 LITERATURE: R. Nathanson, Pavel Tchelitchew 1898-1957: A Collection of Fifty-four Theatre Designs c. 1919-1923 , The Alpine Club, London, 1976, exhibition catalogue, p.34, no. 52, illustrated

TCHELITCHEW, PAVEL (1898–1957) La Dame voilée , signed and dated 1954. Oil on canvas, 74 by 51 cm. Comment1 Provenance: Pecci-Blunt collection, Rome (inscription on the reverse). Private collection, Europe. Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert A. Kuznetsov. Exhibited: Pavel Tchelitchew , Kournikova Gallery, 10 April–17 July 2011. Literature: Exhibition catalogue, Pavel Tchelitchew , St Petersburg, Petronivs, 2011, p. 179, illustrated. A. Kuznetsov, Pavel Tchelitchew: Metamorphoses , ARNOLDSCHE Art Publishers, Stuttgart, 2012, illustrated. World-renowned artist, genius of stage design, distinguished draughtsman and one of the most interesting painters of the 20th century – Pavel Tchelitchew is represented here by a unique work of art, capable of intriguing the most exacting aesthete. The innumerable transformations and reincarnations that marked Tchelitchew’’’’s development throughout his creative journey were undoubtedly a reflection of the tempestuous artistic processes that took place in the first half of the 20th century, and their influence naturally brought about radical change in the artist’’’’s style. In 1950 Tchelitchew moved to Italy, settling initially in Grottaferrata not far from Rome and then in Frascati. His Italian works are extremely rare; today only about thirty drawings and pastels are known, and no more than fifteen oil paintings. Essentially, his best-known oils are of this last period and are dated 1953 to 1957. The reason for the very modest number of completed paintings from this time is primarily a deterioration in the artist’’’’s health and, of course, the prodigious effort he put into producing his whole “neon” cycle. Tchelitchew did not employ the technique of aerography, instead he worked on the most complex curves with a fine oil brush. In the radiating designs of La Dame voilée the artist returns as it were to the mannequins roped together in his famous scene for Ode , finding in the light of an enchanting luminescence the “universe” he desired. The “neon” period in the artist’’’’s creative work is his most cryptic and dazzling; the symbolic fulfilment and essence of a philosophical quest. Gradually, the organically disintegrating bodily basis of his subjects practically ceases to exist, leaving behind only frameworks of light. The building blocks for these amazing structures seem like wafer-thin cylindrical cocoons. Their shining web incubates the ideal subject, as if binding it with beams of light. The glimmering threads vary in their thickness, which creates the effect of barely noticeable vibration. The artist himself called designs like this “dancing boxes”. This logical consummation of structural metamorphoses, the result of seeking the universal, surpasses all conceivable expectations. By destroying organic matter over decades, as if proposing to observe its decomposition, Tchelitchew presents the possible phases (in his own imagination) of the unseen workings of the Creator, His sacred dispensation for the universe.