[LARIONOV'S DRAWING] The drawing of Nikolay Gogol's head on the back of the invitation to the Larionov/Goncharova exhibition, held in June of 1914 in Paris

Image: 12,5x9,5 cm. Frame: 21x17,5 cm. In a contemporary frame. Mint.
Provenance: lot 114 in Etude Couturier Nicolay sale of Guillaume Apollinaire collection, 25th of June, 1986.
This portrait was created on the rear side of an invitation to a debut exhibition of Gallerie Paul Guillaume - a solo show of Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova.
Paul Guillaume (1891-1934) was one of the 20th century greatest art dealers. He was a dealer of Chaïm Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, and others. Also, he was a pioneer of African art exhibitions and thus met with Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918). Paul Guillaume opened his first gallery in February 1914 at 6, rue de Miromesnil.
Larionov traveled to Paris earlier. In 1906, Diaghilev organized a large retrospective exhibition of Russian art at the Grand Palais, included the artist's paintings in the exhibition and invited him himself, albeit as a worker, to mount M. Vrubel's panels.
A joint visit of Larionov and Goncharova to Paris took place in 1914. It was associated with the premiere of the opera-ballet 'The Golden Cockerel' in Grand Opéra. Interestingly, Larionov was invited as a stage designer for sketches by Goncharova. After the premiere of 'The Golden Cockerel', Paul Guillaume invited Goncharova and Larionov as the first exhibitors of his gallery. The preface to an exhibition catalog was written by Guillaume Apollinaire.
The artists officially launched rayism in Moscow - at the Target exhibition of 1913. The Parisian show was supplemented with publication of excerpts from the Rayonist manifesto that were printed in the French magazine 'Montjoie!'.