Nicolai Fechin

(American, 1881-1955)

Study of a Woman (Portrait of Elena Konstantinovna Luksch-Makowsky), c. 1906-08

oil on canvas

signed N. Fechin (upper right)

41 ½ x 28 inches.

Property from the Collection of Homer E. Noble, Denver, Colorado

We would like to thank Galina Tuluzakova for her assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.

Provenance:

Saks Galleries, Denver, Colorado

Acquired directly from the above by Homer E. Noble, March 29, 1978

Thence by descent to the present owner

Literature:

Galina Tuluzakova, Nikolai Fechin, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2007 (reprints 2010, 2012, 2015, 2018), p. 14, illus.

Galina Tuluzakova, Nicolai Fechin: The Art and the Life, San Cristobal, New Mexico, 2012, p. 42, illus.

Lot note:

In 1907, the student artist Niсolai Feсhin exhibited for the first time at the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Art’s annual Spring Academic Exhibition. He showed Study of a Woman, an alluring work of art that left a lasting impression amongst art critics (Spring exhibition in the halls of the Imperial Academy of Arts 1907, SPb., p. 20, no. 397). In a review of the exhibition, the authoritative art magazine Zolotoye Runo (Golden Fleece), marked the study as "bold" (Const. Sunnerberg. “Artistic life of St. Petersburg, At the Spring Exhibition,” Golden Fleece, 1907. no. 3, p. 72). Although the dimensions of the painting are not listed (in accordance with the then tradition) and no reproduction is included in the exhibition catalog, it can be assumed that Study of a Woman is the same portrait that appeared on the American art market in the 1970s under the name Portrait of Elena Konstantinovna Makovskaya, dated circa 1907-1908. As evidenced by a label on the canvas verso, the model’s name and the circa date of the painting were supplied to the transport company that delivered the artwork from Paris to New York. Comparison with photographs of Elena Makowsky, the daughter of the successful Russian artist Konstantin Makowsky, further reinforces the identity of the sitter.

Elena Konstantinovna Luksch-Makowsky (1878-1967) was a brilliant artist who worked in a variety of mediums. She lived mainly in Germany and often visited Austria and Russia. It is most likely that the present portrait was painted on one of her visits to her homeland, as it is known she visited St. Petersburg in 1906 and 1908. In 1906, Elena Makowsky was 28 years old, which corresponds with the age of the sitter in the portrait. This was also the time when Fechin’s individual style crystallized. He loved to combine the rational, precise construction of the natural form, especially the face and hands, with the freedom of spontaneous, wide brushstrokes in the background and clothing. Stylistically, the portrait can be included among other the works that date from this period, including portraits of the poet Fyodor Sologub (1906, whereabouts unknown), architect Sergei Ovsyannikov (1907, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia), Lady in Lilac (1908, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia), and Nadezhda Sapozhnikova (1908, private collection, formerly San Diego Museum of Art, California). The 1906 date is also supported by the application of the signature, which was only just being developed by the artist.

The portrait of Elena Makowsky is one of the early works of the artist, where his technical virtuosity, emotional expression, elegance of the coloristic constructions of the restrained ocher-brown scale, and subtlety of the sensual perception of the personality were already manifested in full force.

The portrait was reproduced in books about the artist (see related literature) and will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné.

-Galina Tuluzakova

Study of a Woman (Portrait of Elena Konstantinovna Luksch-Makowsky), c. 1906-08