SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
As a painter and draughtsman, Alexandre Iacovleff pursued a career combining work for the press with travel and the production of drawings related to expeditions. His name is also transliterated as Yakovlev. He was born in Saint Petersburg in 1887 and died in Paris in 1938. After studying at the K. Maj secondary school in his native city, he studied under Dmitri Kardovsky at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. From 1908 to 1918, he worked as a draughtsman for the magazines Strekoza, Satyricon and then Novy Satyricon.
He left for China in 1917 on a scholarship and subsequently spent six months on the Japanese island of Izu Ōshima. He settled in Paris in 1920. In 1924, chosen as the official painter of the Croisière noire, which crossed Africa from Algeria to Madagascar, he produced 300 drawings during the journey. In 1928, he travelled to Abyssinia alongside Henri de Rothschild. He also designed the sets for Paul Valéry’s ballet Sémiramis, presented at the Paris Opera.
Chosen to direct the school of drawing and painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, he settled in the United States before returning to Paris in 1937. Works by the artist are listed at the Musée des Années Trente in Boulogne-Billancourt, the Centre Pompidou, the Tate Gallery and the Musée Guimet. Among the works cited is La Ganza, a dance accompanying circumcision ceremonies among the Sanga in Ubangi, dated 1926 and held at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren.
This profile brings together identity references for Alexandre Jacovleff and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Genève Enchères
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.
Pastel
Portrait de Ton-That-Han (1854-1944)
pastel
Date to be documented
Published result : 45000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 4000–6000
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Charcoal
Suiveur de Alexandre Iacovleff — Portrait de jeune homme
fusain
Suiveur de
Catalogue period : 2018-09-18
Follower of
Published result : 400 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 400–600
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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