Scarce original drawing by lyricist Ira Gershwin of the Amedeo Modigliani oil painting ‘Dr. Deveraigne,’ which hung in the house of his younger brother, the esteemed composer George Gershwin. Accomplished in colored pencil and pastel on a 5.75 x 7.5 sheet that is signed in the lower left corner in black ink, “Ira Gershwin, Dec. ‘51.” Handsomely framed to an overall size of 11.5 x 13.25. In fine condition.
In addition to being a composer, songwriter, and pianist, George Gershwin was himself a practicing artist, and during his lifetime produced over 100 paintings, drawings, and photographs, most famously including his portrait of Arnold Schoenberg. ‘He was in love with color and his palette in paint closely resembled the color of his music. The juxtaposition of greens, blues, sanguines, chromes, and grays, fascinated him,’ recalled Merle Armitage. ‘Of course, I can paint!’ Gershwin was said to have told his girlfriend Rosamond Walling, an aspiring landscape painter. ‘If you have talent, you can do anything. I have a lot of talent.’
Aside from creating art, Gershwin was also one of the foremost collectors of modern art in his day, assembling a collection comprised of about 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and decorative objects. With help and advice from his cousin, a painter named Henry Botkin, Gershwin spent about $50,000 acquiring masterpieces. According to Botkin, Gershwin first became interested in fine art after moving into his new art deco Riverside Drive apartment. Henry recalls exclaiming, ‘George, the walls are bare! How about some paintings?’ Gershwin replied, ‘Fine. How do we start?’
His collection was a who’s who of modern art and included works by Modigliani, Renoir, Cezanne, Gauguin, Chagall, Rouault, Kandinsky, Leger, Rousseau, Max Weber, Klee, Siqueiros, Utrillo, and Matisse. However, it is said that Picasso’s The Absinthe Drinker was the crown jewel of his collection.
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