[FROM NAOUM ARONSON'S STUDIO] Naum L. ARONSON (1872-1943) Marble bust Red Lenin

Antique red marble, carved 64 x 68 x 68 cm No marks The concept and sketches for the bust were initiated in 1919; it was modeled in a mold around 1924 and subsequently executed in marble probably circa 1925-30s. Provenance: - Sale of Naoum Aronson’s studio, May 17, 1944, Paris - Former Del Debbio Collection (acquired at the above sale) - Private collection, Paris - Tradart Deauville, Paintings, Furniture, Works of Art, 08.12.2013, lot 241 - Private collection Exhibited: - ‘Salon of 1937’, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1937, probably exhibited under No. 1694, described on p. 89 of the catalogue as ‘Bust of Lenin; antique red marble’, not illustrated. Literature: - ‘Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs…‘, Emmanuel Benezit, ed. Gründ, 1976, p. 275. Chips, surface wear From the diary of Lunacharsky, he recalls the first encounter between Aronson and Lenin in Aronson’s studio in 1904 when, together with Lunacharsky, Lenin visited Aronson (extract from A.V. Lunacharsky, Vospominaniya i Vpechatleniya, 1968; first published in the newspaper Soviet Art, 1934 No. 1, January 2). Lenin first met Aronson in Paris in 1904 when Lunacharsky introduced them while searching for a place to have coffee. Arriving early in the morning, Lenin was taken to Aronson’s studio, where the sculptor, immediately struck by Lenin’s appearance, saw in him a remarkable subject for a portrait, even comparing him to Socrates. In 1925, Aronson created a bust of Lenin from memory, depicting him as both a visionary leader and a relentless force of change. As he later explained, “I came to the conclusion that I could and should create a bust of Lenin remotely. After his death, his image became ever more defined and vivid before me, and this vision, formed almost entirely in my imagination, seemed worthy of realization.” While the sculpture captured Lenin’s intellect and compassion, it also conveyed a near-demonic intensity, reflecting Aronson’s admiration and fear of his revolutionary power (extract from A.V. Lunacharsky, Vospominaniya i Vpechatleniya, 1968; first published in the newspaper Soviet Art, 1934, No. 1, January 2). Between 1925 and 1926, Aronson sculpted Lenin’s bust in marble and brought the work to the USSR, though its current location remains unknown. In 1957, Aronson’s widow donated a second version of the bust, made in the early 1930s, to the Central Museum of Lenin in Moscow. According to Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs… by Emmanuel Benezit (1976, p. 275), a bust of Lenin by Aronson was exhibited at the Société Nationale in 1937. Additionally, two Lenin heads in porphyry were sold at an Aronson workshop sale on May 17, 1944, for 1,600 and 2,000 francs. Since porphyry is often mistaken for antique red marble, this suggests that the present sculpture may be one of those referenced. Aronson’s red marble sculpture of Lenin can be considered an early avant-garde work, alongside Bathing the Red Horse by Petrov-Vodkin and Red Square by Malevich, or even later parallels with Red Lenin by Andy Warhol. Presumably, all of this could refer to our present sculpture. Naum Aronson was a French-Jewish sculptor, born in 1872 in Kreslavka, Vitebsk (then part of the Russian Empire, now Latvia). Renowned for his portrait busts and monumental works, he created sculptures of Beethoven, Chopin, Tolstoy, Lenin, and Louis Pasteur, among others. Raised in a Hasidic family, Aronson studied at the Vilna Drawing School under I. P. Trutnev (1889–1891) before moving to Paris after being rejected by the Imperial Academy of Arts. In Paris, he trained at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs under Prof. G. Lemaire and at the Académie Colarossi, working as a stonemason to support himself. After a brief return to Russia (1894–1896), he settled permanently in Paris, gaining recognition as a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts from 1898. His work was exhibited at the Paris Salons, the Berlin Secession, and London galleries. He was awarded a Second Gold Medal at the Exposition Universelle (1900) and a Gold Medal at the International Exhibition in Liège (1905). Following the German invasion of France in 1940, Aronson fled to New York, arriving as a refugee in March 1941. He remained in the United States until his death in 1943. Naum Aronson was a French-Jewish sculptor, born in 1872 in Kreslavka, Vitebsk (then part of the Russian Empire, now Latvia). Renowned for his portrait busts and monumental works, he created sculptures of Beethoven, Chopin, Tolstoy, Lenin, and Louis Pasteur, among others.