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MAN IN A BLUE MASK

MAN IN A BLUE MASK

91.5 by 73cm., 36 by 28¾in.

signed in Latin t.l.

oil and sand on canvas

PROVENANCE

Sotheby's Sale Impressionist and Modern Art and Ceramics, London, 13^th October 1993, lot 251;
The Collection of Geoffrey Beene, New York;
Private Collection, New York

LITERATURE

J. Thrall Soby, Tchelitchew: Paintings, Drawings, New York: 1942, pp15-17;
L. Kirstein (Ed.), Pavel Tchelitchev Drawings, New York: 1947, Plates 1 and 2 (studies)

NOTE

This work is believed to have been executed in 1926-27.

Man in a Blue Mask is closely related to Blue Acrobat and Man in a Pink Mask, both of which were completed in 1927 during the artist's stay in Algiers. Tchelichev had revised his palette in 1925 and, in his own words, "threw away all but black, white, ochre, natural and burnt umber". The 1926 exhibition of his and others' works at Galerie Druet in Paris marks the emergence of Neo-Romanticism as a formal and recognizable movement.

During the period 1926-33, Tchelichev was preoccupied with circus-related themes. This was inspired primarily by Picasso's works of 1904-05 which Tchelichev had seen in Gertrude Stein's apartment in Paris. Tchelitchev's works from this period portray the heroic isolation of dancers, clowns and circus performers, rendered in an abstracted plane. This work relates in style and idea to Tchelichev's Blue Acrobat of 1927, in which a faceless acrobat carries a hoop. "A visit to Algiers in 1927 caused him to lighten his blues still more than he had done in the South of France, and in that city he painted the first of his long series on the circus theme... He also completed two masked figures, The Blue Mask and The Pink Mask..." (Soby 1942, p.17)

This work is an example of Tchelichev's experimentation with what he termed 'laconic' composition: capturing 'simultaneity' of the expression of movement through time and space, concerns similar to cubism, but more closely tied to figural depiction. The medium of sand and paint was used in a majority of his painting of this period, particularly 1927-28. "At times... he piled up so heavily a texture that in [Tchelichev's] words, 'The surface of my painting looked like maps of the earth in low relief.'" (Soby 1942 p.17)

Once referred to as the greatest American designer, Geoffrey Beene was a serious art enthusiast. His collection reflected his innovative style, individuality, modernity and taste and included works by René Magritte, Salvador Dali, Man Ray and Alexander Arkhipenko. Other works by Tchelitchev can be found in the Museum of Modern Art, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York: The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; the Tate Gallery, London; and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.