Curator of the collection

Sculpture Columbine. Lomonosov Leningrad Porcelain Factory. Leningrad. 1924 model manufactured in the 1980s. Overglaze paintwork on porcelain. Height: 24.6 cm. Red overglaze stamp: ЛФЗ.

Sculpture Columbine. Lomonosov Leningrad Porcelain Factory. Leningrad. 1924 model manufactured in the 1980s. Overglaze paintwork on porcelain. Height: 24.6 cm. Red overglaze stamp: ЛФЗ.

Olga Glebova-Sudeikina

Olga Glebova-Sudeikina

EXPERT OPINION

Figurine Columbine. USSR, Leningrad. Lomonosov Leningrad Porcelain Factory. Model artist: Olga Glebova-Sudeikina. 1924. Paintwork by Anna Yatskevich. 1937. Height: 23 cm. Polychrome overglaze paintwork. No marks; hand painted signature and date on black glazed bottom: худ. А. Яцевич1937 г. A delicate ballerina with an exaggeratedly bowed head in a masquerade costume en pointe and standing on one leg, elegantly lifting the other. A dropped mask and other theatrical accoutrements are lying on the ground, serving as an additional support while not affecting the sculptor’s achievement of the impression of the near weightlessness of the ballerina, whose only contact with the pedestal is one foot. Model done in 1924. It rightfully belongs to the best examples of porcelain art created at the factory over the course of the 1920s. Work in the realm of porcelain was a short episode in the rich artistic legacy of Olga Glebova-Sudeikina, a talented artist, sculptor, and actress. She worked at the State Porcelain Factory around 1923-1924. This period, however, was productive. She created three figurines that are included among the best of the factory’s output. Columbine was created from a sketch by Glebova-Sudeikina’s husband, the famous artist and theatrical director Serge Sudeikin.

The Columbine figurine was brought into production several times from the mid-1920s through the 1930s at the State Porcelain Factory. It was on a list of porcelain pieces that were exhibited and sold abroad, which included selected works that were popular among the public. It was on display at the jubilee exhibition 15 Years of Artists of the RSFSR, which was held in Leningrad in 1932. This particular example was painted by Anna Yatskevich, an artist at the factory. The signature she left on the bottom of the base allows us to accurately date the release of the figurine. Olga Glebova-Sudeikina (1885, St. Petersburg—1945, Paris) was an actress, literary translator, dancer, musician, artist, and sculptor. In the 1910s, she performed in St. Petersburg theaters as a dramatic actress and as a dancer at the cabarets the Stray Dog and the Comedians’ Halt. In the mid-1920s, she worked at the State Porcelain Factory as a sculptor, where she created the figurines Psyche, Columbine, and Genius of Dance. Anna Yatskevich (1905, St. Petersburg—1952, Leningrad) was a porcelain artist. She worked at the Leningrad Porcelain Factory from 1932 to 1952. She did artistic paintwork on dinnerware, vases, and porcelain sculptures. Porcelain with her paintwork was exhibited at exhibitions in the Soviet Union and abroad. She is the artist behind the “Cobalt Net” pattern, for which she was awarded a Gold Medal at Expo 58 in Brussels.

Tamara Nosovich Art historian