Abraham Mintchine (UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN 1898-1931)

Lot description

ABRAHAM MINTCHINE (UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN 1898-1931) Siesta , 1929 oil on canvas 38.1 x 55.2 cm (15 x 21 3/4 in) framed dimensions: 50.8 x 67.3 cm (20 x 26.5 in) signed lower right PROVENANCE Purchased from Crane Kalman Gallery, London in a selling exhibition Soutine and his Circle, by B. I. Harris Esq. on May 1960 (according to the label on verso) Acquired from the above by Jacques Spreiregen (1894 - 1982) Thence by descent Bonham's, London, L'Ecole de Paris: A Modernist Diaspora, June 28, 2022, Lot 1 Private Collection, New York (acquired by the present owner at the above sale) EXHIBITED Worthing Art Gallery, Sussex, Impressionism to Surrealism, no. 2, 1970 (according to the label on verso) PROVENANCE NOTES Jacques (Jakob Henryk) Spreiregen was born in 1894 in Warsaw into a Jewish family. To escape the Tsarist regime in Poland, in 1910, the family emigrated to France, where he changed his name to Jacques Henry Sergene. During the First World War, a young Spreiregen moved to England and began working as a headwear manufacturer and importer of basque berets.Having joined the British Army, he was sent back to France to serve in the Medical Corps before returning to England after the war. In 1938, the Kangol brand was born and owing to the exceptional popularity of its berets, soon became the official supplier of the British Army during the Second World War. As a philanthropist and collector, Spreiregen is known to have built an extraordinary collection of 20th century art led by European avant-garde masters such as Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Mark Chagall, Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Gontcharova. Maintaining close ties with France, he was avid in his support of the community of Jewish artists in Paris, which included Chaïm Soutine, Pinchus Krémègne, Abraham Mintchine and Maurice Blond, and acquired the majority of his collection directly from the artists' studios. This remarkable collection was exhibited several times during Spreiregen's lifetime: in January 1960, at the Rouen Museum of Fine Arts, at the Katia Granoff Gallery in Paris (May - June 1963) and at the Brook Street Gallery in London in December 1963. LOT NOTES A quintessential example of the Ecole de Paris, Abraham Mintchine’s Siesta captures the vibrant, emotive spirit of the 1920s Montparnasse avant-garde. Born in Kyiv and trained in the Ukrainian Avant-Garde tradition, Mintchine’s move to Paris in 1925 placed him at the heart of a revolutionary circle of Jewish artists, including Chaim Soutine and Marc Chagall. This work, characterized by its thick impasto and distorted, expressionistic perspective, exemplifies the "Soutinesque" intensity that Mintchine developed during his brief but prolific career. The intimate subject matter - a studio interior - offers a rare glimpse into the romantic and often bohemian "Golden Age" of Parisian modernism. N.B. Condition reports are available upon request. All lots are sold in as-is condition at the time of sale. Please note that any condition statement regarding works of art is given as a courtesy to our clients in order to assist them in assessing the condition. The report is a genuine opinion held by Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals LLC and should not be treated as a statement of fact. The absence of a condition report or a photograph does not preclude the absence of defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any others. Shapiro Auctions & Appraisals, LLC., including its consultants and agents, shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.