3: Imperial Porcelain. Art Nouveau

Sculpture: A Lady Removing Her Mask

1906

Model and painting by Konstantin Somov

Imperial Porcelain Factory and Glassworks

Porcelain, with polychrome overglaze painting and gilding

In the early years of the 20th century Baron Nicholas von Wolf, then director of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, sought collaboration with artists of the Mir Iskusstva (World of Art) association. On the recommendation of Yevgeny Lanceray, the painter and graphic artist Konstantin Somov (1869-1939) was enlisted to work at the factory. In 1905-1906 he produced models for the sculptures Lovers, A Lady Removing Her Mask and On the Rock. The artist personally finished the figures in porcelain and produced his own variants of painting. Somov is known to have devised a further seven porcelain sculptural groups, but they were not implemented. The completed sculptures were included in exhibitions of Russian art in Paris, Venice and Berlin.