Feb 16, 2023 - Sale 2626

Sale 2626 - Lot 190

Price Realized: $ 2,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

ILYA BOLOTOWSKY (1907-1981)


Untitled.
Pencil and gouache on paper. Inscribed by artist's first wife, Esphyr Slobodkina, Ilya Bolotowsky (by ES), lower right. 406x533 mm; 16x21 inches.

Provenance: The artist; Esphyr Slobodkina; Sid Deutsch gallery; Private collection, NJ.

This study has several forms that relate to Ilya Bolotowsky's 1939 mural commissioned by the Federal Art Project (FAP), Works Progress Administration (WPA) work relief program for The Hall of Sciences as part of the New York Wold's Fair, now part of the Art Institute of Chicago's permanent collection. The pencil and gouache work is most probably an early study as the artist developed his final composition submitted for the project. Bolotowsky would complete four Federal Art Projects between the years1936 and 1942.