Boris Izrailevich Anisfeld

(Russian, 1879-1973)

Black Knight canna lily with pansies

Footnotes

Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by Dr. John Ignatius Perl, a well-known Chicago-based surgeon and art patron, Chicago, late 1940s-1950s
Thence by descent

Based on the photographs provided, Olga Sugrobova-Roth confirmed the authenticity of the work.


The three large-scale works by Boris Anisfeld offered for sale originate from the art collection of American surgeon John Ignatius Perl (1896-1972). Like Anisfeld, he was an immigrant from Eastern Europe, born and raised in Hungary, and the first of his family to receive an academic degree. He arrived in America in 1924 and settled in Chicago, where he learned English while working to confirm his medical qualifications to practice medicine in America. Dr. Perl's professional career was closely associated with Evangelical Deaconess Hospital and the Augustana Hospital of Chicago. He was very active in the medical and scholarly communities, constantly striving to improve medical diagnostics and pioneering new developments in treatment. Besides his passion for medicine, he was fascinated with visual arts, and initially took up photography as a hobby. In 1942, without formal art education, he took up painting as serious vocation. What he lacked in formal training was compensated for by his dedication to the craft and artistic sensibilities. In just a few years he became a prolific painter, actively exhibiting and winning a number of prises at regional fine art competitions. He even tried his hand at frame-making. In fact, all the frames on the Anisfield paintings in this sale were made by Dr Perl.

In 1924 Boris Anisfield moved to Chicago from New York to teach at the Art Institute of Chicago. However, Dr. Perl's and Boris Anisfield's paths did not cross until the early 1940s. It is unclear whether Dr. Perl took classes taught by Boris Anisfield at the Art Institute of Chicago, or whether the two men met while exhibiting together in the mid-1940s, but that initial encounter developed into a long-lasting and meaningful friendship. Dr. Perl became a devoted patron of Boris Anisfeld and acquired a number of Anisfeld's important works to grace his ever-growing collection of American and Eastern-European artists.