Lot 423: * MAVRINA, TATIANA (1900-1996) - Sketch from the Bath House Series.

* MAVRINA, TATIANA (1900-1996)
Sketch from the Bath House Series.
Watercolour on paper, 32.5 by 44.5 cm.

Executed c. 1938.



Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist's family by the previous owner in 2003 (inscription on the reverse).
Important private collection, Europe.

The remarkable Russian artist Tatiana Mavrina, a member of the Moscow group The 13, is represented by a watercolour from her famous Bath House series. In the 1930s, in addition to her joyous sunny landscapes and playful portraits, Mavrina created an entire cycle of sumptuous nudes notable for their special vibrancy of colour, their bold composition and their inimitable use of watercolour. The art critic Valeriy Bondarenko wrote: "The main subject of Mavrina's painting in the 1930s is, of course, energy itself: her vortices that twist the world into a whimsical whirlpool. But this very world, it seems, is still not fully aware of itself; it feels its way into floating on air, one might say, 'blindly'. ... The simple (and only natural) 'cause' of her inspiration is love (in the broad sense) and aesthetic admiration". The present composition with three nudes is just such a work, in which the human joy of simply "being" brightens up both the stern passing of time, and life itself. With the works she produced Mavrina always managed to gladden not only serious art critics but simple people close to her and dear to her heart.