Lot 250:

Alexandre ROUBTZOFF (Saint-Petersburg, 1884 - Tunis, 1949) -

View from the Corniche, La Marsa (1918)

Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right “A.Roubtzoff 1918” and located lower left “Corniche La Marsa”, the canvas annotated on the back “Corniche La Marsa September 1918”. Pushpin holes in four corners and old glue marks on the back. - H. 17.5 x L. 27.5 cm.

Expert: Mr. Maxime Charron

Historical

“I only came to Tunisia for a few days and stayed there for the rest of my life,” the artist wrote in his memoirs. Alexandre Roubtzoff, born January 24, 1884 in Saint Petersburg, trained in the painting department of the Imperial Academy of Arts under the tutelage of Yan Frantsevich Tsionglinsky (1858-1912), a determining personality in his training since Tsionglinsky was considered one of the first Russian impressionists and that he was also a great traveler and a lover of exotic countries. Thanks to a grant, Roubtzoff undertook numerous trips between 1907 and 1912 which took him to Austria, Germany, Italy and Morocco where he could not establish himself permanently due to the Moroccan campaign, encouraging him to going to Tunisia and settling there in 1914. The First World War prevented him from returning to Russia and Roubtzoff took up residence in Tunis in an apartment-workshop at 33 rue Al Djazira. The October Revolution of 1917 marked an important split in the artist's life; he severed ties with his native country, took French nationality and presented himself as “a Frenchman born in Saint Petersburg”. This new horizon which offered itself to him guided him towards outdoor painting imbued with the warmth of the sands of the Sahara and the contrasts of the Atlas mountains. The magic of Tunisian light, its unique nuances, but also street scenes and the representation of Arab life inspired Roubtzoff throughout his life, creating more than three thousand works of great diversity.

€ 600/800