Lot 165: Ilya Abramovich Grinman , Russian 1875-1944 In the Shadows, 1904 oil on canvas

signed in Cyrillic and dated 1904 (lower right) oil on canvas

measurements 77 by 108 1/4 in. alternate measurements 196 x 275 cm

O.L. Leikind, K.V. Makhrov, D.Ia.Severiushin, Khudozhniki Russkogo Zarubezhia, 1917-1939, Biographical Dictionary, St. Petersburg: 1999, p. 244, listed as In the Shadows

The present lot earned Ilya Grinman the title of Academician. Grinman was a student of Kovalevsky and Repin at the Academy of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. A highly skilled portraitist, he painted portraits of Gorky, Tolstoy, Aronson, and Lenin, among others; these works count among his most accomplished. Grinman even wrote reminiscences about his famous sitters. In 1927, like so many of his contemporaries, the artist emigrated to Paris and enjoyed his fair share of notoriety. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistses français where he received a medal of merit.

On April 12, 1944, Grinman was arrested in his Paris atelier and deported. Most of his art was destroyed. This lot is an incredibly rare example of his Russian period.