KONSTANTIN SOMOV Drawing 1928 Russian Art

KONSTANTIN ANDREEVICH SOMOV
St. Petersburg 1869 - 1939 Paris (Russian)

Design for a Christmas Card - 1928
Original Hand Dated Drawing

Title: Design for a Christmas Card

Technique: Original Pencil Drawing on paper

Paper Size: 11,5 x 21 cm / 4.5 x 8.3 in

Additional Information: This original pencil drawing by Somov is hand dated in pencil at the lower left part 1928.
It is a preparatory design for a Christmas card that Somov created in 1928.
The card was commissioned by Sir Henri & Lady Deterding in 1928 with its cover illustrated by Somov's painting .
Sir Henri Deterding (1866-1939) was one of the founders of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the chairman of the combined Royal Dutch/Shell oil company.
Lydia Pavlovna Koudoyarov, Lady Deterding was Sir Henri Deterding second wife until they divorced in 1936.
Somov remarked on this commission in a letter dated 26 November 1924:
Ah, I've just finished 'tintinka' (the very small painting), that I have to complete as soon as possible. That's why, like a black slave, without straightening my back, I worked on it for a whole week. I am awfully tired. It turned out not bad at all. Everyone who had a look at it, when practically finished, praised it. In a way, it's like a Kustodiev.
This lot includes also the original 1928 Christmas card.

Unexamined out of the frame.