Vasily Ivanovich Shukhaev, 1887-1973

According to a preparatory drawing for this work located in the Museum of Tblisi, Georgia, this painting was once owned by Salome Andronikoff.

Handwritten inscription on the reverse of the panel in French (added some time after it was painted and most probably not by the artist) reads: Schoukhaieff Vassili I. Le picnik, ... Cassis vers 1925, Schoukhaieff et sa femme Vera assise Salome Halpern, Andreeff née Andronikoff, et sa fille Irene Andreeff couchée/ 1 rue Alfred Stevens, Paris.

Shukhaev left Russia in the early 20s and settled in Paris. The offered lot dates from this period in his emigration. Works at this time were very close in style to those by Alexander Yakovlev (such as the sanguine portrait lot 132) with whom he had collaborated in Russia over designs for the ceiling of the Firsanov residence in Moscow. Both artists exhibited together in Paris in 1922 at the Galerie Barbazanges. Shukhaev returned to Russia in 1935 and then finally settled in Tiblisi, Georgia, where he taught at the Academy of Arts.