YAKUNCHIKOVA RUSSIAN ART

YAKUNCHIKOVA, Maria (1870-1902). Krechet [Falcon].c. 1905. Watercolor and goache on paper (440 x 385). Initialed by the artist lower right. Provenance: sale Nagel Auctionen Stuttgart 26 Apr 2007; lot 655, illus. Yakunchikova was associated with the Abramtsevo artists, especially her teacher Elena Polenova, whose revival of traditional handicrafts greatly inspired Yakunchikova. In 1898 she was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev to design a cover for his magazine Mir Iskusstva; and designed an Art Nouveau image, with folk art stylings, of a swan in a forest pool. The present work strongly suggests her felicitious combination of folk art traditions with a more urbane sensibility gleaned from her studies at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.