Lot 39
  • 39

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

Estimate
1,250,000 - 2,000,000 USD
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Description

  • The Arrival of Columbus' Flotilla, 1880
  • bears signature Aivasovsky (lower right)
  • oil on canvas
  • 50 by 72 in.
  • 127 by 183 cm

Provenance

Private American Collection, circa 1930s

Exhibited

Chicago, The World's Columbian Exposition, 1893
New Milford, Hovnanian Armenian School, Aivazovsky in America, October, 1988

Literature

N.P. Sobko, Dictionary of Russian Artists, St. Petersburg, 1893, vol. 1, p. 334, no. 487
Vsemirnaia Kolumbova vystavka 1893 g. v Chikago. Russkii Otdiel, Chicago, 1893, no. 19
William Walton, Art & Architecture, Philadelphia, G. Barrie, 1893, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 59 and 70, illustrated
M.S. Sargsian, "Ayvazovski in America," Armenian Review, Winter 1986, vol. 39, no. 4-156, p. 84
Iris Papazian and Andrew Shahinian (eds.), Aivazovsky in America, New Milford: Hovnanian Armenian School, 1988, illustrated on the cover
Gianni Caffiero and Ivan Samarine, Seas, Cities and Dreams: The Paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky, London, 2000, p. 315, no. 487

Condition

Oil on lined canvas. There is light surface dirt and the canvas is covered with a layer of yellowed varnish. There is extensive retouching which fluoresces under UV throughout the composition. This work would benefit greatly from a professional cleaning. Held in a gold-painted wood frame. Unexamined out of frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Catalogue Note

Ivan Aivazovsky traveled to the United States in the fall of 1892. Prior to his departure, he expressed his desire to revisit the Atlantic Ocean to a reporter for Russkii Vestnik, stating, "My main purpose for this journey is to see the ocean once more and to renew my impressions of the journey taken in the 1840s. I am fond of those impressions, of those sceneries with limitless water. One looks at the often changing views, feels a calmness and a strong desire to capture everything...everything in order to reproduce them on canvas" (as quoted in Shahen Khachaturian, Aivazovsky in America, p. 18).

He officially journeyed to America to represent Russian artists at the World's Columbian Exposition (World's Fair) in Chicago in 1893, where an astounding twenty of his paintings were sent for exhibition. He was also drawn to the fabled natural wonders that might be found across the Atlantic. He was particularly inspired by the majestic Niagara Falls, which he later painted in large scale. His sketchbook from his American sojourn is preserved in the archives of Theodosia's art gallery; it is filled primarily with views of Niagara Falls and the Atlantic Ocean.

Before embarking on his trip to America in 1892, Aivazovsky carefully planned the works he wished to exhibit at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. Years earlier, he had begun a massive series of canvases depicting the life of Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America in 1492. Sailing on behalf of Spain, Columbus, the great explorer, had journeyed across the Atlantic with a famous trio of ships—the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria. In the early morning hours on October 12, 1492, they arrived to the island now known as San Salvador. When setting out to paint this immense historical series, Aivazovsky considered the fact that the four hundred year anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America was at hand, and he may well have wished to send these paintings to Chicago because he knew they would resonate with American viewers. In the summer of 1892, Aivazovsky sent the twenty paintings to the Fine Arts Academy in St. Petersburg so that fifteen would be chosen for the major Chicago exhibition, and the newspaper Novoye Vremya of 1892 noted that Aivazovsky's participation in the Chicago exposition assured Russia's success.

As M.S. Sargisian noted in his article "Ayvasovski in America", the archives of the federal gallery in Theodosia named after Aivazovsky has preserved a handwritten list by the artist, dated July 10, 1892, which lists the twenty paintings that Aivazovsky intended to send to the Chicago exposition. Among them, five paintings devoted to the Columbus theme were included, and the present lot was listed as number 2, Columbus, encircled by his retinue, disembarks at the shore in San Salvador Island, and  it was originally "nine arshin wide by seven arshin long" (approximately 5 by 6 meters) including frame. At the World's Fair, the painting was better known as The Arrival of Columbus' Flotilla, and in N.P. Sobko's listing of paintings by Aivazovsky compiled in 1893 it was titled The Disembarkation of Christopher Columbus, with Companions on Three Launches, on Friday 12th October 1492, at Sunrise, on an American Island named San Salvador by him on the very same Day. Sobko too referred to the painting's great size—listed as more than seven arshins long and about five high—and he noted that they were painted in 1880 after sketches done by the artist in Genoa, Florence and Venice. The work was later renamed again, to Columbus in America, for exhibition at the Hovnanian Armenian School in New Jersey. It had been rediscovered just before this exhibition, and its true origins and historical significance remained unknown until recently.

Aivazovsky and his wife traveled extensively throughout America from 1892-93, though weariness and business affairs in St. Petersburg precluded the couple from actually visiting the World's Fair. The present lot is a rediscovered segment from the immense masterpiece they left behind, which was later cut down into at least two smaller paintings—the other being The Disembarkation of Christopher Columbus, sold at Sotheby's New York in April 2006. In The Arrival of Columbus' Flotilla, the artist captures with drama and majesty the arrival of the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria to American shores. Aivazovsky's palette captures the early morning light with stunning effect, softly and slowly illuminating the composition, as if bringing the scene to life before the viewer's eyes. In this way, this masterpiece creates an eloquent metaphor of a world in its first moment of discovery, untarnished, a future without limits.