(Odessa 1862–1945 Oxford)
At Konstantin Alexeyevich Korovin’s, “Songs of Ancient Times (Chaliapin and the Artists)”, signed in Cyrillic, dated 26 Dec. 1912, mixed media on paper on board, 40.5 x 51 cm, framed (behind glass)

Provenance:
Collection of Moscow attorney Jakov Libson (1882–1938), (gift from the artist);
By inheritance to his descendants;
Sotheby’s New York, 22 April 2009, lot 22;
Private Collection Austria.

Compare:
Rimgaila Salys, Leonid Pasternak. The Russian Years, 1875–1921. A Critical Study and Catalogue, New York 1999, vol. 1, p. 46.

The present lot is a version of the composition of the “Old Songs” motif that was still unknown to the author of the catalogue raisonné “Pasternak. The Russian Years, 1999”. It depicts a party at the home of the artist Konstantin Korovin. His guests include Prince Sergei Shcherbatov, P. Tukhkov with a guitar, the painter Abram Arkhipov, Apollinary Vasnetsov, Leonid Pasternak and the famous bassist Feodor Chaliapin. According to Pasternak’s memoirs, the festive evening among friends probably continued in the apartment of the renowned Moscow lawyer and art lover Jakov Libson (1882-1938). Both Libson’s and Pasternak’s wives were pianists, and their sons became famous architects.This painting has been included in the data bank of the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works “Leonid Pasternak. The Berlin Years”, chapter: Supplements to the catalogue “The Russian Years” by Olga Sugrobova-Roth, commissioned by the Pasternak Trust Oxford (www. pasternak-trust. org) aufgenommen.

We are grateful to Dr. Olga Sugrobova-Roth for her scientific assistance.