Vladimir Griegorovich Tretchikoff (South African, 1913-2006)


Portrait of a Ndebele man signed and dated 'TRETCHIKOFF/ SA 59' (lower right)oil on canvas 76 x 66.5cm (29 15/16 x 26 3/16in).
|ProvenanceAcquired from the artist by Mr. Samuel V. Collins.Sold to Mr. Emerson Kailey. Sold at auction in Aguttes, France, 25 June 2007.A private collection.Samuel Collins was a Texan entrepreneur who made his fortune after establishing the first diamond mining operation off the Namibian coast in 1961. The operation used pioneering technology to dredge hundred of carats each week. The firm's success earned Collins the moniker, the "King of Sea Diamonds". Collins admired Tretchikoff's work and built up a collection of his paintings. During this period, the two men developed a friendship and Collins invited the artist to become a partner in the Marine Diamonds Corporation. Tretchikoff later recalled how the entrepreneur laid out his vision for mining diamonds from the sea: "We took some cocktail peanuts out of a bowl on the coffee table to demonstrate our respective ideas of how the diamonds would be lying on the seabed."Geologists were divided in their opinions about the ambitious venture. But Collins's enthusiasm was such that Tretchikoff was convinced to become a substantial investor. When Collins and his business partner, Emerson Kailey, sold the corporation to De Beers, Tretchikoff became a shareholder of the largest diamond syndicate on the planet.Kailey had been born and raised in Illinois. He had relocated to Southern Africa with Collins to develop their ideas for submarine pipelines along the coast of Namibia. Collins introduced Kailey to Tretchikoff, and Kailey later purchased two of the artist's works from Collins's collection: this portrait of a Ndebele man and The Ballerina, the well known portrait of Tamara Toumanova. These works hung in Kailey's home in Paris. When first auctioned in France in 2007, this painting was listed as Portrait d'homme. This would have been a highly unusual for Tretchikoff, who typically gave his paintings far more specific titles. This particular portrait is rare in the absence of visual cues to identify the model's ethnicity, status or occupation. Tretchikoff generally portrays Africans either as urban contemporaries (street musicians, newspaper sellers) or as 'types', documenting the characteristic attire of particular ethnic groups. However, this sitter has no identifying features. The focus is rather on the man's facial expression. He gazes out at something just beyond the picture plane. Boris Gorelik, Tretchikoff's preeminent biographer, has suggested that this portrait is one of a diptych; the second being a portrait titled Ndebele Woman (illustrated in the Tretchikoff album published by Howard Timmins, 1969). This portrait of the woman is set against a similar red background with wavy white lines. The portrait is frontal, but she trains her gaze to the left. If we place this painting beside the portrait of the Ndebele man, we can see that the two figures are looking at one another. Unlike the Ndebele Man, the woman displays the characteristic Ndebele attire. Her body is decorated with traditional metal choker rings, beaded bracelets, necklace, earrings and headband. The Ndebele Woman has not made a public appearance at exhibitions or auction since the 1960s. This is a rare opportunity to acquire one of Tretchikoff's most sought after subjects.We would like to thank Boris Gorelick for his research and assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.