Sergei Yur'evich Sudeikin

(Russian, 1883-1946)

Tea party on a summer's day: design for an unidentified production of Nikita Balieff's Chauve-Souris theatre in Paris, 1922 39.5 x 49.8cm (15 5/8 x 19 5/8in).

Footnotes

Provenance
According to the inscription, the work was presented by the artist to Mlle. Spinelli, an actress at Balieff's theatre "Chauve-Souris", in Paris, 1922
Acquired by a private collector, Scarsdale, New York, USA
A gift from the above to the present collector, 1980

The present work, illustrating a stage design from 1922 for Nikita Balieff's Chauve-Souris theatre production depicting a whimsical array of playful characters in a pastoral Russian landscape, is typical of Sergei Sudeikin's work from the early 1920s. Given the opportunity to work on many productions for the company in Paris and later in the USA, the artist developed his own unique style and his version of the Russian style which he transformed and interpreted through the prism of intense stylisation, combining elements of the traditional peasant culture in its approachable, popular form with his own sophisticated artistic sensibility and modern vision. Throughout his career Sudeikin frequently depicted colourful puppets, mechanical dolls, porcelain figurines and peasant decorations as quintessentially national elements of the Russian culture. They dominated his paintings and graphic works with triumphant joyful abundance and created an unforgettable visual landscape.

In the present painting, naive and charming characters populate a static, stage-like lake scene, attending a picnic taking place around a large samovar at the centre of the work. A young maiden dressed in traditional sarafan and holding an enormous sunflower seems to be courted by a male dandy impressively dressed and playing balalayka. A group of ducks seems to be caught between the pair of lovers at centre stage. A bit further, a large man dressed in a scarlet shirt is reclining for his mid-day nap oblivious to the activities around him. On the right, a tall figure of what looks like a scarecrow, dressed like a peasant woman, is casually flopping in the wind. Two boats carrying picnickers and their pets are gliding on the still waters of the lake. And above all of the pastoral bliss with stylised trees and bright rolling hills is an enormous fairy-tale sun beaming its geometric rays, infusing the scene with an additional degree of magic and theatricality.

Through his unique and immediately recognisable aesthetics, Sudeikin played an important role in Balieff's enterprise and to a large degree was responsible for the much-admired 'look' of the production both in terms of the stage presence as well as the consistently recognizable branding of all the marketing and promotional material. The artist spent a great deal of time working with the cast and the creative team of the production and knew many actors personally. The present work was presented to Mademoiselle Spinelli, who was one of the leading actresses of Balieff's theatre. A photograph of Mlle. Spinelli and Nikita Balieff was published in Comoedia Illustre, July-August 1921, issue 10.