11
Portrait of the Artist's Daughter, Yaroslava, 1928. Oil on board, 59 x 59 cm
Private collection, Europe
and 1925. Yet his 1926 pencil Portrait of Sergei
Rudich (husband of Wanda's younger sister
Anna) reveals unimpaired mastery of (swirling)
line, while three slightly later pencil drawings
featuring his daughter retain all his hallmark
angular dynamics.
In two of these she is playing diabolo, a
children's game that involves spinning a bobbin
on a piece of string. In each sketch the string
forms a V and the spinning bobbin a circular blur.
One sketch features an urban background formed
by sharp diagonals; one has a backcloth of trees,
another a more simple, plain, white background,
whilst a flurry of diagonals lend taut energy to
Yaroslava Reading. Although she is lying down, the
work is instilled with latent energy: her book is
sharply pointed, her elbows form triangles, and
her legs are athletically bent at the knee.
