Alexander Evgenievich Yakovlev

Acquired directly from the artist by his sister, Sandra Yakovlev
Given in 1979 by the above to Jacqueline du Mas de La Roque, mother of the present owner, who was her close friend and her student at the Conservatoire Rachmaninoff in Paris

The work has been laid down onto canvas. There are minor abrasions to the surface, including a crease in the figure's forehead and a small abrasion in his nose. Under UV pigment fluoresces in a spot near the center of his robe and near feet. Held in a black painted wood frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The offered portrait belongs to the series of paintings executed by Yakovlev in 1918 on the subject of the Chinese theatre, which includes The Opera in Peking; Box at a Theatre in Peking; The Battle of the Warriors; Three Women in a Box at the Theatre; General Ma-Soo in the Historical Play The Retreat of Kiai-Ting, Puppets. 

Yakovlev was particularly fascinated by the Chinese theatre and its role in modern Chinese society. Indeed many compositions from this serie take as their subject not the action on stage but its effect on the audience. The scale of this portrait, combined with the man's stance, feet slightly apart and his shoulders turned towards the viewer, have a transformative effect, endowing the sitter with grandeur.

Yakovlev had a passion for music, dance and theatre and was close to his sister Sandra, a singing teacher at the Conservatoire Rachmaninoff in Paris. Sandra gave the present work as a gift to one of her students and dearest friends, M^medu Mas de la Roque, who took singing lessons from 1949 to 1979 with Sandra Yakovlev at Conservatoire Rachmaninoff in Paris. Sandra and Jacqueline regularly met to sing together either at the apartment of Sandra in Paris, rue Lesieur, either in Gers at Jacqueline's Château Blanin until Sandra Yakovlev's death.

The present lot will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Caroline Haardt de La Baume and will be provided with her certificate of authenticity.