Kseniya Aleksandrovna Klementievna Sold at Auction Prices

KSENIYA KLEMENTIEVA (RUSSIAN 1896-1984), Workers in the Foundry, 1937

KLEMENTIEVA KSENIYA ALEKSANDROVNA (RUSSIAN 1896-1984), Molodtsev v Liteinom Tsekhe [Workers in the Foundry], 1937, autholithograph, 54 x 35.5 cm (21 1/4 x 14 in.), inscribed and dated lower right inside folder LOT NOTES Kseniya Aleksandrovna Klementievna was a Russian illustrator and graphic designer, specializing in watercolor and printmaking. She loved drawing and painting from childhood and began her fine arts education in primary school. In the late 1910s she attended the M.D.Bershtein and L.V.Sherwood school of painting and sculpture and apprenticed at the studio of A.I.Savinov. In the 1920s, she and her husband lived in Tblisi, where Klementieva developed close relationships, personal and artistic, with several of the artists of "OKNO ROSTA." The couple returned to Leningrad in 1927, where Klementieva would ultimately discover her personal artistic style. Her work from this period shows this influence of fellow artists Rudakov and Charushin, who drew Klementieva into the world of book illustration. Her illustrations of the Russian classics including the works of Turgenyev, Pushkin and Tolstoi became well-loved by many generations of readers. PROVENANCE INFORMATION This lot comes from the collection of Viktor Kholodkov (1948-2015), who fulfilled his passion for books, avant-garde design and paper memorabilia by devoting his life to collecting and dealing of prominent works of Russian graphic art of the first half of the 20th century. The dedicated collector acquired a multitude of books and artworks throughout decades, meticulously labeling and archiving every single item. Many came directly from the most preeminent artists of the time, as well as from their families and estates. He also possessed a vast number of drawings from the famous collection of another avant-garde enthusiast, Nikolai Khardzhiev. After leaving the USSR in 1989 and settling in California, Viktor continued his work as a Soviet art dealer and critic, actively publishing various articles and contributing to several major Russian avant-garde exhibitions across the U.S., such as the 1991 Russia Under Fire in the 40s on the West Coast and the 1992 Guggenheim exhibition The Great Utopia: The Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde. Kholodkov also contributed to the archives of the biggest American institutions. His sophisticated selection of over 2000 Russian sheet music covers was acquired by The Library of Congress, and an extensive amount of material related to VKhUTEMAS is now at the J. Paul Getty Museum.