Leon Gaspard

with Milch Galleries, New York, 1930
Acquired from the artist by the parents of the present owner (possibly)

Art Institute of Chicago, The Thirty-Ninth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, October 28 - December 12, 1926, no. 84
West Virginia, Charleston Art Association, Exhibition of American Paintings, February 8 - 16, 1930, no. 22

E.J. Costello, "Gaspard and the Posters", The Poster: The National Journal of Outdoor Advertising and Poster Art, vol. 17, issues 2-12, Chicago, March, 1926, p. 14, illustrated
Charleston Art Association, Exhibition of American Paintings, 1930, no. 22, p. 4, illustrated

The following condition report has been provided on September 23rd, 2014, by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting may never have been restored. It is possibly slightly dirty and although the work is quite shiny, this sheen may have been applied by the artist in specific areas. The signature and the date in the lower left are period, but there are remnants of an earlier inscription beneath this signature which were presumably removed by the artist in favor of the inscription we see today. The condition seems to be excellent throughout the work. The board is flat and unreinforced and the paint layer is stable. There are no restorations or damages. While the work could be cleaned, it is also a picture that could be hung in its current condition.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Early in life, Leon Gaspard was exposed to a multitude of animated cultures as he accompanied his father on fur trading expeditions that stretched across Russia into Turkestan (modern day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan).  As Gaspard’s artistic career developed, with family support and formal training at the Académie Julian in Paris, the impression that these unique societies left on him emerged as a defining theme of his artistic pursuits.  Spring In Siberia, rendered with the vibrant colors of his mature Impressionist style, exemplifies his celebration of exploration and the discovery of cultures from afar that also motivated so many American explorers at this same point in time.

Gaspard returned to Central Asia and Russia in 1909, at the age of 27, on a two year honeymoon following his marriage, in Paris, to a wealthy American ballet student.  During this trip, travelling by horseback into Siberia, Gaspard made numerous sketches and oil studies of the exotic cultures he’d first seen as a youth.  He then returned to Paris where he remained with his wife until the First World War, when he served as an aerial observer in France while she left for America.  In 1916, as the result of war injuries, Gaspard joined his wife in New York.

As was common at the time, the Gaspards travelled to the warm dry climate of the American Southwest at the recommendation of a doctor.  Initially impressed by the clarity of light he found and the unique cultures of the Native American inhabitants, Gaspard established himself in America, exhibiting nationally, with a unique contribution that spoke to both his Russian and American experiences.  In 1921 he set out again with his wife for Asia, traveling from San Francisco to Shanghai and on to Peking (Beijing), before venturing further into China.  Leaving the fur trading epicenter of Kalgan (Zhangjiakou), Gaspard set out alone, across the Gobi Desert, for Inner Mongolia and Siberia.

The holy city of Urga, now the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator, became his base, where he frequented markets and ceremonies that featured the vibrant costumes of the various cultures that relied upon the city as a trading center.  Although known to have completed finished works while in Urga, of which Spring In Siberia is possibly one, “almost all of Gaspard's Mongolian pictures were lost by an express company between Urga and Mukden, but his Chinese paintings he saved, and these with others from Manchuria, Siberia and Russia (Comstock, “Gaspard Paints the East”, International Studio, vol. 78, issue 317, 1923).” Gaspard was eventually given permission by the Buddhist Lama in Urga to continue into Siberia to the thick, snow blanketed forests of the Buryatia province, the destination of his honeymoon some 15 years earlier.

Spring In Siberia is one result of this ambitious adventure.  Here, in full-length, is a Siberian girl in traditional costume with a traditional sledge and characteristic decorated harness; an accurate description done in a loose, Impressionistic style designed to express the essence of the scene rather than to simply document it.  For Gaspard, it was more important for the viewer to feel his subject, often through the absence of strict delineation, than it was to achieve representational exactitude.

While defined by this style, the work also demonstrates Gaspard’s sophistication as a colorist.  Enabled by the vibrant traditions of the subcultures of Siberia, Gaspard masterfully arranges his palette by setting the vibrant blues of the main horse’s arched harness, the emerald greens of the sledge, and the kaleidoscope of colors in the costume of his Siberian maiden, against a neutral background of whites and duller tones.  The result, in combination with his painterly technique, is brilliance without garishness, color and light that feels authentic. 

As a unique combination of the artist’s preference for painting portrait busts with his multi-figured genre subjects, Spring In Siberia is more than a portrait of a girl.  In it, Gaspard has achieved his goal - “I always try to make my pictures portraits of places” - and shared with the viewer a portrait of a unique culture, in a distinct place and at a specific time; Spring, in Siberia (Costello, The Poster, Chicago, 1926).  The exotic would serve as Gaspard’s primary inspiration for the rest of his life.