GRIGORIEV, BORIS (1886–1939). Children's Masquerade

Starting price
£ 50 000
Auction dateClassic
05.06.2019 12:30UTC +02:00
Auctioneer
MacDougall Arts Ltd.
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 195642
Lot 108* | GRIGORIEV, BORIS (1886–1939). Children's Masquerade
, signed and dated 1912, also further signed, inscribed in Cyrillic "(Teatr.")", titled and dated on the reverse.
Pencil, watercolour, gouache and ink on cardboard, 34.5 by 47 cm (image size).
Provenance: Private collection, Europe.



Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert E. Zhukova.



Exhibited: Treffpunkt Paris! Russlands Künstler zwischen Cézannismus und Lyrischer Abstraktion, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, 5 September–23 November 2003.

Boris Grigoriev, The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, 21 April–29 August 2011, No. 44.



Literature: A. Burtsev, “Khudozhnik Boris Dimitrievich Grigoriev i ego tvorchestvo”, Moi zhurnal dlia nemnogikh, No. 1, 1913, illustrated in black and white.

Exhibition catalogue, Treffpunkt Paris! Russlands Künstler zwischen Cézannismus und Lyrischer Abstraktion, Koblenz, Ludwig Museum, 2003, p. 103, illustrated.

T. Galeeva, Boris Dmitrievich Grigoriev, St Petersburg, Zolotoi Vek, 2007, No. 34, illustrated.

Exhibition catalogue, Boris Grigoriev, St Petersburg, Palace Editions, 2011, p. 54, No. 44, illustrated.

R. Antipova, Pskovskaia vystavka Borisa Grigorieva, Moscow, Astreiatsentr, 2015, vol. 2, p. 78, illustrated in black and white.

Iu. Rybakova, “Proizvedeniia B. D. Grigorieva”, Antikvarnyi mir, No. 11, April 2017, p. 119, illustrated.



Children’s Masquerade is one of Boris Grigoriev’s early works, nowadays rarely encountered outside museum collections. From 1910 to 1913 this talented draughtsman worked as a book illustrator for the well-known journalist and publisher Alexander Burtsev, the artist was then responsible for the design of many publications on ethnography and folklore.



In this work, the characters that fill the stage resemble personages from Russian folktales, and are reminiscent of the protagonists in the works of Sergei Sudeikin and Konstantin Somov, both of whom had had a considerable influence on Grigoriev. The fantasmagorical, merry atmosphere is emphasised by the decorative forms and colourful embellishments of the protagonists' costumes, and the enchanting combination of rounded and fragile forms underlines the fairytale atmosphere of the subject.



This rare work will be of particular interest to collectors as a superb example of the early, very expressive and poetic period of Grigoriev’s career.
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