Provenance:

Acquired directly from the artist by the Late Jacques Montpetit, Canadian diplomat stationed in Moscow from 1959-1961;
By descent through the family to the present Private Collection, Ottawa

Note:

Rabin was one of the organizers of the group of young "unofficial" artists working in Moscow in the Soviet period of the 1950’s and 60’s. The culmination of their non-conformist activities was the exhibition in Moscow, in 1974, that was destroyed by bulldozers sent in by the Communist Party authorities. As a consequence, Rabin, whose work revealed the grim reality of living conditions in the Soviet Union, was forced to give up his Soviet citizenship and to emigrate. He has lived in France since 1978.

George Costakis, a local employee of the Canadian Embassy in Moscow, and an avid collector of Russian paintings of the Revolutionary period, encouraged young painters such as Rabin (penniless because they were not recognized by the State and therefore received no government stipend), and put them in contact with foreign diplomats such as Jacques Montpetit and many other foreign visitors. Waddington’s has had the privilege of offering many such diplomatic consignments in our auction history that were collected as a result of George Costakis’ influence. Costakis remembers his visit to the infamous exhibition of 1974 on the day of the "bulldozers" on p. 73 of The Costakis Collection.

The Late Jacques Montpetit was a frequent visitor to the friendly and informal evenings at the Costakis apartment, which was already stacked with paintings by 1961.