Lot 33
  • 33

Ivan Pavlovich Pokhitonov

Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Ivan Pavlovich Pokhitonov
  • The Sea at La Panne
  • signed in Latin and inscribed L.p. l.r.
  • oil on panel
  • 14.5 by 27cm, 5 3/4 by 10 3/4 in.
  • Executed in 1911

Provenance

Collection of Eugénie Wulfert and Boris Wulfert Pokhitonov, Belgium
Boris Wulfert Pokhitonov, France
Private collection, Belgium
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Exhibited

Liège, Palais des fêtes: Parc de la Boverie, Société Royale des Beaux-Arts. Salon Triennal de 1921, 7 May - 26 June 1921, no.382
Moscow, State Tretyakov Gallery, Ivan Pavlovich Pokhitonov 1850-1923, 1963

Literature

Exhibition catalogue Société Royale des Beaux-Arts. Salon Triennal de 1921, Liège, 1921, no.382 listed as Marine
Exhibition catalogue Ivan Pavlovich Pokhitonov 1850-1923, 1963, Moscow, p.31 listed as Spokoinoe more. La-Pann
V.Grebeniuk, Ivan Pavlovich Pokhitonov, Leningrad, 1973, p.70 listed as Spokoinoe more. La-Pann
O.Bertrand, Ivan Pokhitonov, Catalogue Raisonné Volume I, 2015, pp.73 and 125 illustrated

Condition

The panel is sound. There are a few minor surface scratches in the left of the composition and a couple of extremely small paint chips in the upper left quadrant. Very slight frame abrasions are visible at the edges and there spots of built-up varnish residue. Inspection under UV light reveals no apparent signs of retouching. Held in a small wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."

Catalogue Note

The present seascape belongs to a small but distinct group of what can be considered Pokhitonov’s most ambitious paintings at La Panne, devoid of figures or coastline features they are pure studies in colour. By this point in his career Pokhitonov had long since achieved wide recognition in Russia – from Pavel Tretyakov to the Imperial family – and indeed in 1911 the Lemercier Gallery in Moscow mounted a large exhibition of 58 of his works, and yet we are reminded by the gentle pastel tones of this seascape just how novel his approach to painting must have seemed to his Russian contemporaries. As Boris Pokhitonov recalls, when his father visited Russia in the mid-1880s, they ‘reproached him for painting in chalk, in other words with colours that were too light. When you think that Impressionism was born in France in 1873, you can understand the gap that still existed at that time between the French and Russian schools’ (Unpublished notebooks of B.Pokhitonov, 1927).