Alexander Evgenievich Yakovlev

The collection of Félix Marcilhac
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1983

New York, Didier Aaron, Decorative Arts 1925 Style, November 1979, no.6 as Under the Bower
Boulogne-Billancourt, Musée des Années 30, Alexandre Iacovleff: Itinérances, 31 March - 14 August 2004, no.42
New York, A la vieille Russie, Alexandre Iacovleff, Paintings and Drawings, 5 May - 4 June 1993, no.37

Exhibition catalogue Decorative Arts 1925 Style, New York: Didier Aaron, 1979, no.6 listed as Under the Bower
Exhibition catalogue Alexandre Iacovleff: Itinérances, Paris: Somogy, 2004, p.86 illustrated
Exhibition catalogue Alexandre Iacovleff, Paintings and Drawings, A la vieille Russie, New York, 1993, p.26 illustrated

The sheet is sound. There are visible pinholes around the edges and in each corner. There are creases around the edges, as well as some minor tears. There is a small date stamp on the shirt of Robert Montenegro, presumably original to the piece. There is some minor staining to the sheet. Held under glass. Unexamined out of frame.
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At over two metres tall, this impressive portrait of the Mexican artist Roberto Montenegro (1885-1968) is a superb example of Alexander Yakovlev’s early portraiture and a sophisticated study for the tempera Portrait of Roberto Montenegro which was included in the 1916 World of Art exhibition in Petrograd and entered the Russian Museum collection in 1918 (fig.1). Between 1913 and 1915, Vasily Shukhaev and Alexander Yakovlev travelled together in the Western Mediterranean.

The present watercolour was painted in 1915 while Yakovlev was staying with his friend Montenegro in his studio in Mallorca. Montenegro had studied in Paris in the 1900s and 1910s and encountered the proponents of Cubism including Picasso, Braque and Gris before moving back to Mexico in 1921, where he became known principally for his murals, illustrations and portraiture. Montenegro’s first mural was done for the Casino de la Palma in Mallorca and his Art Nouveau paintings of this period are inspired by the fishing villages of the area. In 1915, to thank his Russian friend, Montenegro painted an oil portrait of Yakovlev in return, which is now in the collection of the Parliament of Mallorca.

The present work will be included in the forthcoming Alexander Yakovlev catalogue raisonné prepared by Caroline Haardt de la Baume, to whom we are grateful for providing a certificate of authenticity and additional cataloguing information.