Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova

Estimate

7,000 - 9,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova
Four Designs for Decorative Friezes in the Koussevitzky Villa
numbered MLF085, MLF086, MLF132 and MLF133 t.l.
charcoal and pencil on paper
largest (sheet size): 55.5 by 109cm, 21 3/4 by 43in.; smallest (sheet size): 24.5 by 72.5cm, 9 3/4 by 28 1/2 in.

Provenance

Lefebvre-Foinet Collection

Catalogue Note

Judging by their format and the design, these studies of foliage relate to the 1922 work titled Spanish Women (private collection, Moscow) which Goncharova executed for the dining room of Koussevitsky's villa in Paris. A black and white photograph from the Tretyakov Gallery archive shows the panel in situ among the furniture also designed by the artist. According to Larionov's correspondence in 1957 with Olga Koussevitzky, the widow of the conductor, this panel originally consisted of two sections representing Spanish women: 'the architect of the house Fidler did not account for enough space on the side wall. Since Sergei Prokofiev liked one of the sections very much Natalia Sergeevna sold it to him for 1,000 francs and he took those Spanish Women with him back to Moscow'.