Faces of Russia.

London, 1924. . First edition, limited edition of 500 copies, this copy hors serie; 4to, illustrated with 30 plates by Grigoriev with tissue guards; publisher's special binding for the owner of half vellum over boards, title gilt stamped to upper cover as well as 'The Moscow Art Theatre...Special Edition by Order of Morris Gest'.
Grigoriev's wonderful work here printed specially for one of Broadway's most successful producers of the 1910s and 1920s.

Numerous illustrations and tipped in reproductions of the artist's work are accompanied with essays by Louis Reau, Clare Sheridan, André Levinson, Claude Farrere and André Antoine.

Although Grigoriev left Russia in 1918, the faces of Russian peasants continued to haunt him, and he worked tirelessly on this theme while living in France in the early 1920s. The result is an intense study of the faces of the Russian people; each portrait depicts the peasant in a uniquely harsh light, exposing the hardships of their lives through their rugged faces and expressive eyes. Every subject is charged with universal human traits and reveals a moving impression of weariness at odds with unrelenting resilience. Through the artist's characteristically vivid palette and bold, Cubist-inspired brushstrokes, the viewer is drawn into the subject's world and inner spirit.

Jewish-American theatrical producer Morris Gest was born Mishka Gershonovitch in 1875 in Koshedary, a small village near Vilnius, Lithuania, and raised in the Jewish community of Butrimonys. When he was twelve years old his parents envisaged a better future for their son and so gave him to a married couple who were emigrating to America. They had hoped he would live with his cousins who had already settled in Boston (amongst whom was Bernard Berenson) but he chose to live on his own, finding an income in selling what he could on the streets.

He found himself working in the Yiddish theatres of the city and his success in advertising shows led him to New York where he was spotted by Oscar Hammerstein I and F. Ray Comstock. With the help of his new found partners, Gest's career flourished and he made a name for himself by bringing Nikita Baileff's 'La Chauve Souris' and Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre to the States. As his wealth and status increased he was even able to use his connections to negotiate safe passage of his parents out of the Soviet Union and into Germany.