Ignaty Ignatievich Nivinsky

The canvas has been lined, is attached to a new stretcher and the original tacking edges are missing. There is craquelure throughout, most noticeably on the bodies of the female dancers. There are frame abrasions along the edges. There is a light layer of surface dirt. Inspection under UV light reveals retouching along all four edges, a vertical line of retouching running from the top edge to the right shoulder of the dancer on the left, to the face and left leg of the figure on the right, to the head of the central female figure, two areas below the male figure as well as scattered retouching in places. Held in a gold painted wooden frame with plaster mouldings. Unexamined out of frame.
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The present lot dates from the mid-1910s which was the most fruitful and productive period of Nivinsky's career. At this time he was influenced as much by the Old Masters as Paul Cézanne, and works such as the present lot demonstrate the artist's desire to combine the monumentality and permanence of Renaissance sculpture with contemporary artistic developments.