Vera Landchevsky (Russian/Ukrainian/French, 1897-1960)
Portrait of a young woman
signed in Latin (lower right)
oil on canvas
66 x 50cm (26 x 19 11/16in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
Claude Aguttes SAS, Neuilly sur Seine, France, Tableaux des XIX eme et XX eme siecles, 15 February 2008, lot 155
Private collection, UK (acquired at the above sale)


Born in Voronezh, Vera Landchevsky spent her youth living in Kiev where she studied art under Vladislav Galimsky (1860-1940). At an early age, she moved to Moscow and continued her training in the studios of Petr Kelin (1874-1946), Michael Leblan (1875- 1940), as well as received sculpture lessons from Anna Golubkina (1864- 1927). After the breakout of the Civil War in Russia in 1917, Landchevsky moved to Geledzhik and then Tiflis, where she attended the Academy of Art. Her journey as an émigré began in the 1920s as she traveled to Romania and Berlin until settling in Paris in 1926.

In Paris, Landchevsky joined the city's thriving art scene while participating in Paris salons and numerous exhibitions, including the 1931 Salon d'Automne, the 1936 Salon des Tuileries, and the 1943 Salon des Indépendants. In 1929, Landchevsky's solo exhibition opened at the Galerie Carmine in Paris, and in the 1930s, her work was included in the international exhibitions of Russian art in Belgrade (1930) and Prague (1935).

Landchevsky is best known for her landscapes of Paris, delicate still lifes, and insightful portraits. The latter were often commissioned and portrayed prominent members of Russian intelligentsia living or visiting Paris and included portraits of poet Vladimir Elser (1922) and opera singer Leonid Sobinov (1925) donated to the Russian Cultural and Historical Museum in Prague. The artist's admiration for Paris reflected in a series of atmospheric landscapes, painted in the city and its vicinities. The diverse artist also worked in theatre, and excelled as a restorer, until shifting her interest towards abstract painting in the late period.