- 155
Alexander Alexandrovich Deineka
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
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Description
- Alexander Alexandrovich Deineka
- Illustration for Alexander Pushkin's Gabrieliad
- inscribed I padaet, obyatyi lyegkim snom / Priosenya tsvetok lyubvi krylom and titled in Cyrillic l.r.; further signed and titled on the reverse
- ink on paper
- 18.5 by 27.5cm, 7 1/4 by 10 3/4 in.
- Executed circa 1928-1931
Provenance
A gift from the artist to the art historian Vladimir Petrovich Sysoev (b.1944), Moscow
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Catalogue Note
The present lot is an illustration to Alexander Pushkin's 1821 satirical poem Gabrieliad, a bawdy parody on the subject of the Annunciation. In the poem Mary is seduced by Satan in the form of a snake and the Archangel Gabriel before giving herself to God, who appears to her in the form of a dove in order to conceive Jesus. Mary is left astonished at this sudden attention whilst readers are left uncertain as to who has fathered Christ. The blasphemous subject of The Gabrieliad caused trouble for Pushkin when his authorship was suspected in 1828. Having initially denied writing this blatantly atheist poem for the fear of prosecution by the Holy Synod, Pushkin eventually admitted to it in a private letter to Nicholas I whose patronage he enjoyed through most of his short literary career: 'I can only express my regret that such a shameful and miserable work should be ascribed to me'.
Deineka gifted the present lot to the young art historian Vladimir Sysoev in the late 1960s. Sysoev subsequently became the principal expert on Deineka, publishing three monographs on the artist in 1974, 1989 and 2010.
Deineka gifted the present lot to the young art historian Vladimir Sysoev in the late 1960s. Sysoev subsequently became the principal expert on Deineka, publishing three monographs on the artist in 1974, 1989 and 2010.