Alexandre Iacovleff

Private Collection, United States, circa 1970s

A. Iacovleff and S. Elisseff, Le Théatre Japonais (Kabuki), Paris, 1933, illustrated

Sanguine and charcoal on paper mounted on board. The surface is dirty and the paper is slightly discolored in line with age. The paper is slightly torn around edges and there are some minor stains to the surface. The paper appears to have been torn and then repaired in several spots; one repair runs from slightly above the Samurai's sword to the floor. There is some minor foxing and four very small pinholes are visible on the left side. Picture appears to be in stable condition. Held in wood frame under plexi glass with mat. Unexamined out of frame.
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Intrigued by the union of modernity and tradition within Eastern plays, Alexandre Iacovleff was a regular visitor to Asian theatres where he made many drawings and paintings from life. In 1922 he wrote, "I should like to express and to explain the attraction of [Eastern] dramatic art and the importance which I attribute to it. It was in Peking, whose countless walls, one after the other, reveal the phantoms and ancient mysteries of the autocratic East, where the profane hands of the traveller may touch the abandoned throne of the Celestials...that I attempted to understand and comprehend the charm of her thousand-year-old culture." (Tchou-Kia-Kien, Alexandre Iacovleff, The Chinese Theatre, London, John Lane, 1922).