Lot 56: The Hon John Collier (British, 1850-1934) Mrs Dalahaye

The Hon John Collier (British, 1850-1934)
Mrs Dalahaye
signed 'John Collier' (lower left)
oil on canvas
131 x 84cm (51 9/16 x 33 1/16in).
to be sold with a group of seven photographs of the sitter, including four by Madame Yevonde, and various other documents.
Footnotes

Provenance
By direct descent from the sitter to Katharina Wolpe, whose father, the composer Stefan Wolpe
(1902-1972) was the cousin of the sitter
Gifted to the present owner, in 2013
Private collection, UK

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1926, no.525

Literature
Royal Academy Illustrated, 1926, p.101, illustrated in black and white

Ina De La Haye, neé Fedosia Merkel, was a Russian born actress and singer. Born in St, Petersburg in 1906, Fedosia and her younger brother Ilya fled Russia following the Revolution. By 1921 she was working as a correspondent for a journal in Riga, and by 1924 she had entered London society. The famous society photographer Madame Yevonde captured her likeness that same year.

Fedosia married Colonel J. V. De La Haye and, under the name of Ina De La Haye worked as an actress, appearing on the stage and in numerous films and television roles from the late 1940s until the early 1970s. She died in 1972 in Ticehurst, England.

The present lot is a striking contrast to many of John Collier's more sombre society portraits. Collier was a prolific exhibitor at the Royal Academy, showing 85 works between 1874 and his death in 1934. Collier's portraits of women are among his most appealing works, seeming to free the artist from the formality of the portrait genre. In Mrs Osborne (Plymouth City Council: Museum and Art Gallery) for example, the sitter has her back the viewer, her head turned in side profile; here, the artist positions the sitter face on to the viewer, her elegant robe contrasting with the striking green background.