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Madame Bonjean
Pavel Tchelitchew (American (born in Russia, also active in France), 1898–1957)
1930
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
73 x 49.8 cm (28 3/4 x 19 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution
Accession NumberRES.32.25
ClassificationsPaintings
This elegant and somewhat skeptical figure is the wife of Jacques Bonjean, an influential Paris art dealer who specialized in the avant-garde and operated a gallery in silent partnership with fashion designer Christian Dior. Trained in Moscow, Tchelitchew fled south to Ukraine during the Russian Revolution, making his way to Paris by 1920. He eventually came to the United States in the early 1930s. For four decades Tchelitchew was one of the most important and innovative set designers in Europe and the United States, working with figures like fellow Russian, choreographer George Balanchine.
InscriptionsLower right: P. Tchelitchew
ProvenanceBy 1931, with Jacques Bonjean, Paris [see note 1]; May 18, 1931, Jacques Bonjean sold to MFA. (Accession date: February 4, 1932)
NOTES:
[1] Jacques Bonjean, a dealer in Paris, was also the husband of the sitter of the painting, Madame Bonjean.
NOTES:
[1] Jacques Bonjean, a dealer in Paris, was also the husband of the sitter of the painting, Madame Bonjean.