Lot 129
  • 129

Ignaty Ignatievich Nivinsky

Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Ignaty Ignatievich Nivinsky
  • Costume Designs for Rosina, Bartolo and a Soldier from The Barber of Seville
  • each signed with initials in Cyrillic l.r.
  • gouache on paper
  • largest: 38 by 29.5cm, 15 by 11 1/2 in.; smallest: 38.5 by 25cm, 15 1/4 by 9 3/4 in.

Catalogue Note

These designs were commissioned from Nivinsky by Konstantin Stanislavsky for his 1933 production of Rossini's opera shortly before the artist's death.

The Soviet art critic and dealer Victor Kholodkov (1948-2015) was particularly drawn to the graphic works and typographical experiments of the Russian avant-garde. He published a number of articles on the subject and contributed to exhibitions after his emigration from the Soviet Union in 1989, including the 1992 Guggenheim exhibition The Great Utopia: The Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde. His extensive collection of papers and artwork relating to VKhUTEMAS was acquired by the Getty Museum in 1995 and his collection of Soviet music sheet covers is now in The Library of Congress.

The present selection of graphic works, oils and original film posters (lots 107-138) from the first half of the 20th century is characteristic of Kholodkov’s interests in the convergence of artistic, cultural and political concerns of the period. He is known to have purchased much of his collection directly from the artists or their families; others were acquired directly from Nikolai Khardzhiev, another well-known collector of the Russian avant-garde.