JANCO, Marcel. PORTRAIT OF TRISTAN TZARA. ORIGINAL DRAWING. - Lot 7

JANCO, Marcel. PORTRAIT OF TRISTAN TZARA. ORIGINAL DRAWING. [Zurich]. 916. 46 x 30 cm, framed. Original charcoal drawing on heavy paper by Marcel Janco depicting Tristan Tzara reading on stage at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich in 1916. On the reverse of the drawing is another portrait of Tzara by Janco in pencil, a study for the final portrait of Tzara. The Cabaret Voltaire operated for about six months between February 5, its opening day, and mid-July 1916. A reading program was organized every day. Tristan Tzara participated in several of these events. Tzara and Janco, both of Romanian origin, were longtime friends; Janco arrived in Zurich in the summer of 1915 to study architecture, and Tzara arrived in the fall of 1915. They lived at the same Altinger boarding house throughout 1916 and organized the Dadaist literary evenings together. Among other works, Marcel Janco illustrated Tzara’s first book and the first volume in the Dada collection: *La Première aventure céleste de Mr Antipyrine*. Marcel Janco created four portraits of Tzara dating from the Dadaist period in Zurich: a painting from the former Tzara collection, the whereabouts of which are unknown, and three drawings, one of which is lost (reproduced as a thumbnail in *Cabaret Voltaire*). The second is housed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and the third drawing is offered here. Provenance: - Tristan Tzara Collection - Kornfeld Kriptsein Auction, Bern, Tristan Tzara Collection, May 13, 1958, lot 448 - Collection of the Leonard T. Brown Family, Massachusetts - Private European collection, 1997 Exhibitions: - Caracas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, *El espíritu dada*, 1980 - Regensburg Museum, *Brancusi, Tzara und die rumänische Avantgarde*, 1998 - Rotterdam Kunsthalle, *Marcel Janco, Dadaist in Heart and Soul*, 2002–2003 - Berlin, Antiquariat LINKE: *DADA ZÜRICH 1916–1920*, 2016 Bibliography: - Hans BOLLIGER, DOKUMENTATIONSBIBLIOTHEK II, Auction 88/13 May 1958, KLIPSTEIN&KORNFELD, Bern, lot 448, illustrated on page 67 [dated 1916] - John ELDERFIELD, “Dada: A Code for Saints,” in the journal ARTFORUM, Vol. 12, No. 6, New York 1974, illustrated on page 43 - [Exhibition catalog] EL SPIRITU DADA 1915–1925, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, 1980, illustrated on page - Harry SEIWERT, Marcel JANCO, Dadaist-Zeitgenosse-wohltemperierter morgenländischer Konstruktivist, Frankfurt am Main, 1993, unillustrated There is only one other portrait of Tzara from this period, which was sold at the Tzara auction. It is now in the Jerusalem Museum of Art. Exceptional.

Estimate:$39,200.77

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