$14,375
1932 gouache and watercolor on paper 46 x 61. 5 cm (18 1/8 x 24 1/4 in.) signed and dated lower right LOT NOTES Alexandre Benois was born into the celebrated Benois family and initially gained recognition as one of the founding members of the widely influential artist group Mir Iskusstva Over the years his extremely prolific career took him from book illustration and costume design for the Ballets Russes to a curatorship at the Hermitage Museum. In 1927, shortly after leaving his post as the curator of Old Master paintings at the Hermitage, Benois settled in France and continued to work primarily as a set designer. This painting, executed in September of 1932, was created while Benois was traveling through the French countryside. A very similar view of analogous dimensions, dated to August of 1932, and inscribed as depicting the House of Ida Brown in Cassis, was sold at Sotheby`s London, on June 9, 2010 as lot 255. The dimensions, strong similarity of subject matter, and close proximity of date suggest that the present lot may depict a different view of the same location.
Auctioneer:
Shapiro Auctions
Date:
2014-10-25
