SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
The painter and theatre designer Marie Vassilieff—also known as Maria Ivanovna Vassilieva—was born in Smolensk in 1884 and died in 1957. Her career brings together painting, decorative arts and design for the stage. Enrolled at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts in 1903, she continued her training in Paris, where she attended classes at the École des beaux-arts and studied painting with Henri Matisse. From 1910, she exhibited regularly at the Salon d’automne and the Salon des indépendants. In 1912, she opened her own studio in Montparnasse; in December 1915, she took part in the «0,10» exhibition in Petrograd.
Part of her work is described as Cézanne-inspired and Cubist in style. From the 1920s onwards, her work moved towards a certain primitivism: forms became rounder, colours softer, and childhood themes took on a privileged place, with a reference to the lubok. Her practice extended beyond painting: she created dolls, masks, costumes and furniture, and made two decorative panels for the dining room of La Coupole. In 1925, she also designed anthropomorphic furniture for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. In 1937, the actress Louise Lara engaged her to stage Rimbaud’s Une saison en enfer as part of the so-called «synesthetic» experiments of the Art et Action theatre laboratory. The following year, Vassilieff settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
This profile brings together identity references for Marie Vassilieff and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Lempertz
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Gouache
Still Life with Masks in a Window
gouache
Auction date : 2020-06-20
Published result : 16250 EUR
Including buyer’s premium
Estimate : 12000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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