Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev

A gift from the artist to Leonid Zakharovich Katz (1886-1976)
Thence by descent to his great-granddaughter

The paper has slightly discoloured and there is some undulation near the upper edge. There are two pinholes, near the right and the left frame edges in the upper section of the work. There are losses to the upper right corner with associated paint loss and a small area of rubbing. Furthermore, there are three small areas of paint loss to the upper inner frame edge and a larger area 0.5cm in length in the upper left quadrant. There are two spots of foxing to the upper right corner and to the upper left of the horse's head. There are minor scratches in places and some areas of rubbing to the coat of the coachman. Held in a gold painted modern frame under glass. Unexamined out of frame.
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Having studied in Germany, Leonid Zakharovich Katz went on to become an extremely successful and well-known lawyer in Moscow in the 1920s. His clients included high-profile writers and artists of every kind, and it was to Katz that Boris Kustodiev also turned for professional legal advice on a particular case. The court ruled in Kustodiev’s favour, and as a mark of gratitude Kustodiev presented the lawyer with this watercolour. It hung in the Katz family house on ulitsa Vorovskogo (renamed Povarskaya ulitsa in 1993), where he lived with his daughter Irina, who became a lawyer,  and his son, Yuri, an artist.  

After the war, Katz won a case relating to a property dispute on behalf of some actors of the Bolshoi theatre who were shareholders of a co-operative building on Bryusovsky pereulok. As a mark of gratitude they gave him the opportunity to obtain one of the apartments in the building. The Katz family moved into their new spacious five-roomed apartment on the 8^th floor where they were based until 1989.

Kustodiev is known to have produced a number of versions of this composition from his Russkie tipy series, made so famous by the 1924 Brooklyn exhibition poster (fig.1). At least three watercolour versions are known: Izvozchik-likhach (1920, 33.7 by 28.2cm, Muzei-kvartira I.I.Brodskogo); Izvozchik (1920, 41.5 by 34cm, The Berdyansk Art Museum im.I.I.Brodskogo); and Likhach, Watercolour sketch (1920, 27.5 by 20cm, Private Collection). The composition of each differs slightly. In the present work for example, the details in the background, the coachman’s belt and mitten, the number on the droshka.