- 395
Pavel Tchelitchew
Estimate
30,000 - 40,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed
Description
- Pavel Tchelitchew
- Les Oeufs
signed Tchelitchew. (lower right)
- oil on canvas
- 12 5/8 by 15 in.
- 32.1 by 38.1 cm
Provenance
Collection of Prof. Ralph W. Church, Santa Barbara
Private Collection, New England
Sale: Skinner, Massachusetts, March 5, 2004, lot 426, illustrated
Exhibited
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Tchelitchew, 1942, no. 3
Literature
James Thrall Soby, Tchelitchew. Paintings and Drawings, Museum of Modern Art: New York, 1942, p. 15
Maurice Grosser, Critic's Eye, Indianapolis, 1962
Parker Tyler, The Divine Comedy of Pavel Tchelitchew, New York, 1967, pp. 31, 305
Roberta Smith, "Review/Art; Being Young and Abstract Along with Pollock et al.," The New York Times, New York, 6 December 1991
Lincoln Kirstein, Tchelitchev, New Mexico, 1994, pp. 40-42
Rosamund Frost, "Tchelitchew: Method into Magic," Contemporary Contour No. 16
Maurice Grosser, Critic's Eye, Indianapolis, 1962
Parker Tyler, The Divine Comedy of Pavel Tchelitchew, New York, 1967, pp. 31, 305
Roberta Smith, "Review/Art; Being Young and Abstract Along with Pollock et al.," The New York Times, New York, 6 December 1991
Lincoln Kirstein, Tchelitchev, New Mexico, 1994, pp. 40-42
Rosamund Frost, "Tchelitchew: Method into Magic," Contemporary Contour No. 16
Catalogue Note
By 1925, just two years after he first moved to Paris, Pavel Tchelitchew found himself in the company of socialites Gertrude Stein and Edith Sitwell. He began to paint a number of interesting still life compositions, including those of strawberries and grapes which recently re-emerged at auction.* Thanks to his training under Alexandra Exter at the Kiev Academy (1918-1920), Tchelitchew understood the tenets of Constructivism and Suprematism, and his style continued to exhibit Exter's influence, for he deconstructed his subjects and represented them with fundamental forms. He soon arrived at the egg, his trademark shape and the building block for his entire visual vocabulary.
Tchelitchew created a small yet highly important series of egg paintings in 1925. These works ranged from the figurative, such as Les Oeufs, to the more abstract, Still Life of Eggs and a Bowl. The former features lighter hues of grey, emphasizing the soft fragility of the three eggs, nested together in a bowl. The latter features elliptical shapes extracted from their natural setting; rather, they hover ominously, thus referencing the compositional structure of Constructivism and Suprematism.
These paintings would later be recalled as the first major works of his mature career. Almost thirty years later, the artist explained how he progressed: "'An egg was the simplest form--a nose, a bottom (two profiles, buttocks) face and back, as seen from all sides--to depict all possible sides of an egg--3 or 4 different positions--tell the story of the form of an egg. But I wanted the form to be uninterrupted, to continue equally in and outwards. How to depict an egg, in my feeling as going around it. An egg looks like a human face, too. This brought me to human heads. A human head to human body, etc., etc.'" (as quoted in Lincoln Kirstein, Tchelitchev, New Mexico, 1994, p. 42).
Tchelitchew went on to become one of the most beloved artists of his time. He was honored with a rare mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and his masterpiece Hide and Seek (1940-42) was widely considered the public's favorite work in the museum's collection.
*See Basket of Strawberries, Sotheby's New York Russian Sale, April 21, 2005, lot 131; also Bowl of Grapes, Sotheby's New York Russian Sale, April 28, 2006, lot 642.
Tchelitchew created a small yet highly important series of egg paintings in 1925. These works ranged from the figurative, such as Les Oeufs, to the more abstract, Still Life of Eggs and a Bowl. The former features lighter hues of grey, emphasizing the soft fragility of the three eggs, nested together in a bowl. The latter features elliptical shapes extracted from their natural setting; rather, they hover ominously, thus referencing the compositional structure of Constructivism and Suprematism.
These paintings would later be recalled as the first major works of his mature career. Almost thirty years later, the artist explained how he progressed: "'An egg was the simplest form--a nose, a bottom (two profiles, buttocks) face and back, as seen from all sides--to depict all possible sides of an egg--3 or 4 different positions--tell the story of the form of an egg. But I wanted the form to be uninterrupted, to continue equally in and outwards. How to depict an egg, in my feeling as going around it. An egg looks like a human face, too. This brought me to human heads. A human head to human body, etc., etc.'" (as quoted in Lincoln Kirstein, Tchelitchev, New Mexico, 1994, p. 42).
Tchelitchew went on to become one of the most beloved artists of his time. He was honored with a rare mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and his masterpiece Hide and Seek (1940-42) was widely considered the public's favorite work in the museum's collection.
*See Basket of Strawberries, Sotheby's New York Russian Sale, April 21, 2005, lot 131; also Bowl of Grapes, Sotheby's New York Russian Sale, April 28, 2006, lot 642.