69048: Alexander Evgenievich Iacovleff (Russian, 1887-1

Alexander Evgenievich Iacovleff (Russian, 1887-1938) Le port de Calvi, 1930 Tempera on canvas 33-1/2 x 37-3/4 inches (85.1 x 95.9 cm) Signed, dated, and titled lower left: Calvi / 1930 A. Iacovleff Inscribed on right stretcher: 319 East 72 St. MANSHIP New York Inscribed on top stretcher: 15208 21 Property from the Estate of Paul and Isabel Manship, Gloucester, Massachusetts PROVENANCE: The artist; Paul and Isabel Manship, New York. EXHIBITED: The Renaissance Gallery, Paris, "Trois pays vus par Alexandre Iacovleff," November 18-December 2, 1930. LITERATURE: H. Omessa, "La Corse, île de beauté," L'Illustration, November 1930; A. Alexandre, "Trois pays vus par Alexandre Iacovleff," La Renaissance de l'Art, November 1930; "En Corse et en Tunisie avec A. Iacovleff," Vogue, December 1930. This painting will be included in the forthcoming Alexander Yakovlev Catalogue raisonné being prepared by Caroline Haardt de La Baume. We are grateful to Caroline Haardt de La Baume for providing the following essay: Born in Saint Petersburg, Alexandre Iacovleff was an artist-voyager who traveled the world at the beginning of the 20th century. Celebrated as the official painter of the famous Citroën Half-Track Expeditions across Africa and Asia--La Croisière Noire (1924) and La Croisière Jaune (1931)--he brought back hundreds of drawings and paintings from these missions: landscapes of the equatorial forest and of the borders of the Himalayas, and portraits of Mangbetu women with their towering hairstyle, or of Mongols adorned in shimmering finery. Indeed, his work was intimately linked to his adventurous lifestyle. Filled with wanderlust, Iacovleff affirmed, "I love travel, the pleasure of exploring, the new sights that we are going to discover in the world." With Paris as his home port beginning in 1920, Iacovleff liked to escape to the shores of the Mediterranean: to Capri (where he acquired a studio), Tunis, and even Corsica, the "Island of Beauty." Here, the town of Calvi especially enthralled him. Iacovleff completed around thirty luminous and poetic paintings of Calvi, interpreting at different times of day its port, citadel, and fountains, and the simple, happy existence of its inhabitants. In the present Le port de Calvi, executed in a soft palette, we descend with the artist from the top of the citadel toward the port, ambling past charming old houses. With precision, Iacovleff recreates the atmosphere of this leisurely town, where two matrons dressed in black casually chat, a man and his dog stroll nonchalantly, and a silhouetted figure effortlessly carries a jug on her head. We are irresistibly drawn to the blue sea, where a pretty schooner on which we would like to embark is anchored, and to the Mediterranean sky, shaded by clouds. In November 1930, the Parisian gallery La Renaissance mounted an exhibition entitled "Trois pays vus par Alexandre Iacovleff," featuring three places dear to the artist: Capri, Tunis, and Calvi. Many newspapers and magazines such as Vogue and Gringoire paid tribute to Iacovleff's talent. Le port de Calvi appeared in this show and was reproduced in the November 1930 edition of L'Illustration with a review of the exhibition by Henri Omessa. This same month, in La Renaissance de l'Art, Arsène Alexandre, one of the painter's great admirers, devoted a long article to him, noting: "the great strength of Iacovleff, and the reason for the impression he makes on us, are found in the choice of the hour for nature, and for the moment for human beings. But the secret is also in that meaningful and mysterious word: 'Interpretation.' He imagines reality at the same time that he perceives it. He is able then to recreate it afterwards with all the force, the suppleness and the originality that are in his power." Let us be captivated by Le port de Calvi--as had been its previous owner, the famous American sculptor Paul Manship (1885-1966), close to Iacovleff. Did the two artists know each other in Paris where Manship presented an exhibition of statues in November 1928, in the same gallery La Renaissance? Or did they meet in the United States? Both of them loved France and received the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. One last touching detail: Paul Manship's New York City address, 319 East 72 St, inscribed on the frame of the painting, can be found in Iacovleff's address book. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Condition Report: Unlined canvas. Under UV exam, some pigments to fluoresce, but there does not appear to be any inpaint. Few minor flecks of paint loss in the upper center, and center white building; Center vertical stretcher bar line visible. Scattered craquelure.
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