Alexander Evgenievich Yakovlev

Sandra Yakovlev, the artist's sister, Paris
Acquired from the above by the parents of the present owner

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Exposition de peintures et dessins de l'expédition Citroën Centre-Asie, 16 May - 4 June 1933
Washington DC, National Geographic Society, Paintings and Drawings of Asiatic Lands and Peoples by Alexander Iacovleff, 19 March - 2 April 1935
Possibly New York, Galleries Knoedler and Company, Alexander Iacovleff, 10 - 29 February 1936, no.8
Possibly Charleston SC, Carolina Art Association Gibbes Art Gallery, Alexander Iacovleff, 14 April - 10 May 1936

Exhibition catalogue Exposition de peintures et dessins de l'expédition Citroën Centre-Asie, Paris, 1933, no.61
Exhibition catalogue Paintings and Drawings of Asiatic Lands and Peoples by Alexander Iacovleff, Washington DC: National Geographic Society, 1935, no.13
Exhibition catalogue Alexander Iacovleff, New York, Galleries Knoedler and Company, 1936, no.8
Exhibition catalogue Alexander Iacovleff, Charleston SC, Carolina Art Association Gibbes Art Gallery, 1936, no.6

Original canvas. The paint surface is slightly dirty. There are scuffs to the paint surface in places and wear to the corners. Lines of craquelure are visible in places and there are some vertical and horizontal lines of wear to the paint surface along the top and bottom of the work. UV light reveals areas of sweeping retouching throughout. Unframed.
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This magnificent view depicts the snow-covered peak of Mount Rakaposhi, on one of the most critical legs of Andre Citroën's ambitious Croisière jaune expedition across Central Asia. The name translates from the local Hindi and Urdu dialects as 'Shining Wall' and 'Snow Covered', and at 7800m above sea level it is one of the highest peaks in the world. It is part of the Karakoram mountain range, renowned for the extremely harsh conditions and steep slopes which make its ascent such a dangerous undertaking.

When he encountered Mount Rakaposhi for the first time, Alexander Yakovlev was astounded by the breath-taking scenery. He wrote of 'the sense of infinite space, whose boundaries suddenly appear only to disappear again', an impression which comes across so powerfully in this monumental work. The eye is drawn from rocks of the foreground, to the vertiginous incline behind, and finally to the snow-capped brilliant white beyond, which is enveloped in the misty cloak that inspired the mountain's other epithet, Dumani, or Mother of Mists. Yakovlev has chosen to exclude all signs of human life in his composition and the viewer is left to experience the awe-inspiring force of nature in solitude.

The Croisière jaune expedition team began their ascent of the Himalayas in July 1931. A consummate athlete, Yakovlev was in the first group of climbers whose task was to identify the difficult stretches of the route ahead. After negotiating treacherous heaps of fallen rock, Yakovlev and his climbing companions reached the top of the snow-covered Burzil pass. The following day they descended the sheer rock face.  Throughout this journey Yakovlev continued to draw, surrounded by this incredible landscape of deep chasms and towering peaks and with the crashes of avalanches falling down the mountainside resonating around him. Exhausted, the men finally arrived at Dashkin, the final stage of their journey towards the Indus Valley, a heaven of peace and calm dominated by the towering peaks of Rakaposhi and Nanga Parbat.

The offered work was acquired directly from the artist's sister, Sandra Yakovlev, who emigrated to Paris in 1925 and became a highly acclaimed opera star and professor of singing at the Serge Rachmaninoff Conservatoire.  Following her brother's death, she inherited many of his paintings, which she then gave to her close friends and former students. This lot is offered along with a group of works by Alexander Yakovlev, a number of which were painting during the Croisière jaune. (please see the Russian Paintings Day Sale catalogue lots 164-174)

We are grateful to Caroline Haardt de La Baume for providing this note.

To be included in the forthcoming Alexander Yakovlev Catalogue raisonné being prepared by Caroline Haardt de La Baume