Monica Baker

White Horse Carousel, 1956 - Original Oil Painting On Linen

1956

Wonderful old Hollywood portrait of a middle aged Peter Lorre (1904-1964) by Charles Kingham (American, 1895-1984), circa 1955. Unsigned. Acquired with oth...

Wonderful mid century portrait of woman named Charlotte by Irinia Belotelkin Roublon (Russian/American, 1913 - 2009), circa 1960. Signed lower right corner and on verso. Unframed. Image size: 14"H x 11"W. Irina Belotelkin Roublon, née Roudakoff, was born in Elisavetgrad, Ukraine to the Russian noblesse ancienne, descendant of Catherine the Great, she was a student at the Mariinsky Noble Ladies' Institute , Novocherkassk, Russia. She was orphaned at the time of the Russian Civil War after her father, General Paul Roudakoff, was fatally wounded in battle; 5 days later her mother died of typhus. Still unaware of her parents' death, and after witnessing her two sisters' deaths from starvation, the young Irina, then 8 years old, made her way over 1,000 kilometers, alone and through many privations to Moscow and the Estonian embassy there, with whom her Estonian uncle Volodya Blonsky had made arrangements. After a year in Moscow, and appeals to the Estonian consul, Irina was aided in a dramatic escape from the Soviet Union, to her aunt Anna Blonsky Lassburg (1882–1940) and her husband Doctor Genrick Lassburg in Tallinn, Estonia. Eventually, after in 1929, traveling through Ellis Island and admitted as a student, of voice studies, she joined her brother who had settled, in 1923, in the United States. Irina came to San Francisco during the Second World War, Among Irina's devotions were ballet and opera. She often entertained friends Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Sergei Leiferkus when they were in town. Natalia Makarova and Yuri Possokhov were often guests at Irina's Russian Christmas and Easter parties. From the early 1960s through the late 1980s, Irina studied and prolifically created still life and portrait paintings in oil and water color, excelling in flower compositions. She held studio and feature exhibitions; she competed and won prizes. Her work is in holdings throughout the San Francisco Bay area, Europe and Russia. In 1965 she undertook private study with two prominent Russian painters, including Serge Ivanoff; she executed a portrait of her two masters. She cherished her portrait as executed by Serge Ivanoff. Among her most accomplished pieces are those of iris and the large white Matilija...