- 296
Natalia Nesterova
Estimate
70,000 - 90,000 USD
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Description
- Natalia Nesterova
- Last Supper, 1990
each signed, titled and inscribed in Cyrillic and dated 1990 (on the reverse)
- oil on two canvases
- 55 1/4 by 110 1/4 in.
- 140 by 280 cm
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
Exhibited
Roslyn, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, 20th Century Russian Art, 1992
Literature
Constance Schwartz, 20th Century Russian Art: The Avant-Garde Years; The Glasnost Years, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, 1992, p. 59, illustrated
Margarita Tupitsyn, Natalya Nesterova: Recent Works from Moscow, New York: Sovart Inc., 1988
Leonid Bazhanov and Ksenia Bogemskaya, Natalya Nesterova, Moscow, 1989 (exhibition catalogue)
Matthew Cullerne Bown, Contemporary Russian Art, Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1989
Alexandre Gertsman, ed., Remembrance: Russian Post-Modern Nostalgia, New York: IntArt Foundation, 2003
Alexandre Gertsman, ed., Natalya Nesterova: Reflections of Time Past, St. Petersburg: The State Russian Museum, Palace Editions, and IntArt, 2004
Condition
The following condition report has been provided 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 diptych is in beautiful and original condition. It has never been cleaned or varnished and there appear to be no paint losses or restorations. The paint layer seems to be stable throughout, despite having been very heavily painted.
Some of the richest, darkest colors of the paint layer may still slightly sticky and some care should be taken when wrapping it to insure that no paper actually touches the surface. Overall however the picture is in beautiful state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."
Catalogue Note
A figurative artist, Natalia Nesterova graduated from the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow in 1968. The following year, she was accepted into the Artists' Union of the USSR, and was soon considered a leading member of the left wing of the Union. She received the most prestigious awards available to artists in Russia—the National Award in Fine Arts, the Gold Medal of the Academy of Fine Arts, and the titles of Honorary Artist and Academician. In 1991, she was appointed Professor of Painting at the Russian Academy of Theater Arts in Moscow.
Although Nesterova was never counted among the ranks of dissident artists, her fiercely independent creative stance, combined with her use of grotesque imagery, provoked criticism from the Soviet art establishment. Her simplified forms, exaggerated figures, and bright colors make reference to both the famous Georgian primitivist Pirosmani and the French naïve artist Henri Rousseau. Paul Cézanne and the Surrealists are among Nesterova's other sources of inspiration.
Nesterova does not depict specific individuals or landscapes, but rather human types set in a timeless environment. Her paintings include elements of theater and are sometimes based on religious subject matter, as can be seen in the present work. In the Christian Gospels, the Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and other disciples prior to his death. It is a popular theme in the history of art, most famously treated by Leonardo da Vinci.
Like the many that came before it, Nesterova's depiction of the Last Supper portrays the Apostles' response to Jesus's assertion that one of them would betray him. The Apostles in her work react with varying degrees of anger and shock to the statement. Also in common with other representations of the Last Supper, the artist adopted the convention of seating the diners on one side of the table. However, the faces of her Apostles are covered with masks, which serve to veil their wearers' thoughts and mimic their expressions as well as lend a carnival-like aspect to the scene and infuse it with an air of mystery. The masks also imbue the work with a sense of universality and timelessness. Commenting on her choice of subject matter, Nesterova said: "I am a believer, which has allowed me to comfortably approach this theme over the course of my career beginning as far back as 1969, when I painted Supper—which may have been a conscious biblical interpretation of the Last Supper at a time when religious themes were considered prohibitive.... Twenty years later, when I reapproached this theme with masks, I was still not at ease with revealing their faces."
Although Nesterova was never counted among the ranks of dissident artists, her fiercely independent creative stance, combined with her use of grotesque imagery, provoked criticism from the Soviet art establishment. Her simplified forms, exaggerated figures, and bright colors make reference to both the famous Georgian primitivist Pirosmani and the French naïve artist Henri Rousseau. Paul Cézanne and the Surrealists are among Nesterova's other sources of inspiration.
Nesterova does not depict specific individuals or landscapes, but rather human types set in a timeless environment. Her paintings include elements of theater and are sometimes based on religious subject matter, as can be seen in the present work. In the Christian Gospels, the Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and other disciples prior to his death. It is a popular theme in the history of art, most famously treated by Leonardo da Vinci.
Like the many that came before it, Nesterova's depiction of the Last Supper portrays the Apostles' response to Jesus's assertion that one of them would betray him. The Apostles in her work react with varying degrees of anger and shock to the statement. Also in common with other representations of the Last Supper, the artist adopted the convention of seating the diners on one side of the table. However, the faces of her Apostles are covered with masks, which serve to veil their wearers' thoughts and mimic their expressions as well as lend a carnival-like aspect to the scene and infuse it with an air of mystery. The masks also imbue the work with a sense of universality and timelessness. Commenting on her choice of subject matter, Nesterova said: "I am a believer, which has allowed me to comfortably approach this theme over the course of my career beginning as far back as 1969, when I painted Supper—which may have been a conscious biblical interpretation of the Last Supper at a time when religious themes were considered prohibitive.... Twenty years later, when I reapproached this theme with masks, I was still not at ease with revealing their faces."