1939

Leaves V

American (born Russia), 1898 - 1957

Metamorphic compositions had fascinated the Russian émigré painter Pavel Tchelitchew since the late 1920s. This study of children who seem to turn into leaves, or vice versa, is part of a series of drawings of leaves, flowers, and children playing that the artist made during several stays in Connecticut in 1938-40. The shapes of autumn and winter leaves, fallen or still clinging to their branches, transformed for him into images of children in fantastic cloaks. The studies led up to his best-known painting, Hide and Seek of 1940-42, now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.