Lot 243 D

Jankel Adler - Jessenin

Auction 1051 - overview Cologne
29.05.2015, 18:00 - Modern Art
Estimate: 8.000 € - 9.000 €
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Jankel Adler

Jessenin
Circa 1928

Paste-bound gouache and oil mixed with grainy chalk on ribbed paper 58.8 x 43.3 cm Framed under glass. Signed 'Adler' (scratched) lower right and signed and figured on the horizontal scroll 'Adler XI' (difficult to decipher) in black lower right as well as inscribed twice 'Jessenin' within the depiction to the left. - The outer margins with tiny blemishes in places. The craqueleur stabilzed in the scroll area. Few inconspicuous backed tears.

The composition - which probably originated in the 2nd half of the 1920s - is possibly to be understood as a poetic homage by Jankel Adler to the Russian poet Sergej Jessenin (1895 - 1925) who, at the age of 30, committed suicide in a hotel in Leningrad on 28 December 1925. Sofia Tolstaja, granddaughter of Leo Tolstoi and Jessenin's last wife in his 4th marriage, had him committed to a psychiatric clinic shortly after the wedding in October of the same year. The intense and passionate affair with Isadora Duncan is well known. Jessenin was married to the famous dancer, whom he accompanied to her performances, in 1922/1923.

Provenance

Formerly private collection Rhineland; Belgian private collection