Работа над фальшивками, или Подлинная история дамы с театральной сумочкой - [161]
The bold bands of red and green that adorn the coat collar of the sitter in Portrait of E. Yakolevna, or the red of her strangely quadrangular purse — both of which are strikingly at odds with the naturalism of this portrait — are perhaps a form of encoded or suppressed suprematism, and one that suggests itself precisely through these geometrical blocks of solid color. In this poignant painting we come full circle from the Black Square, from color being sublimated in order to heighten the dramatic impact of the birth of suprematism, to color being one of the few ways in which Malevich could tacitly allude to the innovations he had pioneered ad that were now themselves suppressed. Here, by once again 'pouring color into squares', as Matyushin had characterized (or caricatured) the paintings from the 0.10 exhibition, Malevich ingeniously used color to infuse his figurative paintings with the pioneering developments of his suprematist period, which here becomes an adornment or badge of honor that effects a rapprochement between the aesthetics of both.
Nicholas Cullinan, “Color Masses”, in Malevich, ed. Achim Borchardt-Hume, London, Tate Publishing, 2014, p. 121
UNA URIMAN: ABOUT E. YAKOVLEVA
Elizaveta Iakovleva, painter and theater artist, studied in St. Petersburg at the studio of Mikhail Bernshtein with Boris Anisfeld and Leonid Shervud. She worked for the Bolshoi Dramatic Theater and he Theater of Musical Comedy in Leningrad as a costume and set designer. She took part in the Theatrical and Decorative Arts 1917-27 exhibition in Leningrad in 1927. In the early 1930s Malevich painted her portrait (Nakov, Cat. Raisonne, p. 403, PS-253)
Una, Malevich's daughter, recounts her memories of E. Yakovleva recorded by Nina Suetina, and transcribed and annotated by Irina Vakar as follows:
In 1932 Papa took me to live with him in Leningrad. […] Every evening guest gathered at Papa's, there were always ten to twelve people sitting at the table. […] Of those who visited Papa's apartment I remember: Anna Alexandrovna, Nikolai Mikhailovich, Konstantin Ivanovich, Elizaveta Iakovleva* — she was a small- time painter, she kept coming every day, and they loved her at our place.
Una Uriman, “About my Father” in Kazimir Malevich. Letters, Documents, Memoirs, Criticism, Volume 2, Kazimir Malevich: Memoirs and Criticism, eds. Irina A. Vakar and Tatiana N. Mikhienko, London, Tate Publishing 2015, p. 31
PROF. CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS: AVANT-GARDE RUSSIAN TEXTILE DESIGN
World War I, the two revolutions, and the civil war did not disrupt the pace of innovation in Russian fabric design. Under new slogans of revolution, internationalism, and classlessness, Suprematist and Constructivist design continued until the late 1920s, when geometric design — on clothing or any other fabric — became politically suspect, and was forced out by a younger generation of artists.
Suprematist design then acquired an even greater importance for Malevich. In his late portraits it has emblematic, philosophical, and even counterrevolutionary significance. In 1934 Malevich painted a splendid portrait of the Leningrad theater designer Elizaveta Iakovleva (illustrated on the same page of the journal as this text.). Dressed in a cadmium yellow hat and a coat with a Suprematist collar, she slyly exhibits a bright red Suprematist handbag. This painting has recently been discovered. Most of the actual fabric and other articles have been lost or destroyed. We must be grateful indeed for Sayler's photographs.
Charlotte Douglas, “Suprematist Embroided Ornament,” in Art Journal, Vol. 54 No. 1, Spring1995, p. 45
Portrait of E. Yakovleva, detail handbag
Olga Rozanova, appliqued handbag, 1916–1917
Symbolism is unquestionably the foundation of his aesthetics.
DR. ANDREI NAKOV, Specialist Russian Avant-Garde
Portrait of E. Yakovleva, collar details
Sketches of costumes for the opera Victory Over the Sun by M. Matyushin and A. Kruchenykh, 1913, details
TRANSLATION STEDELIJK MUSEUM LETTER
4 November 2015
Subject:
Purchase of artwork by Malevich
With the present letter we, as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, hereby state our serious interest in purchasing the work by Kazimir Malevich, Portrait of E. Yakolevna from 1932, which you are the owner of.
We have taken note of the first discussions of pricing and given that the amount mentioned by you exceeds 20 million euros, it is an ambitious amount for the Stedelijk to bring together. It should therefore be noted that we, in order to be entitled to such funds, need a valuation report from an officially recognized art appraiser.
We are determined to take up the challenge of acquiring this work because we see this as a unique opportunity to complement our existing collection of Malevich works.
We hereby rely on our shared responsibility of writing art history wherein, as often shown in the distant and recent past, the public domain is dependent on private ownership.
The Stedelijk has in its collection a number of key-works by Malevich from this very enigmatic stylistic development of his oeuvre. With
