Portrait of Oscar Miestchanoff, I. (recto and verso)

This double-sided sheet appears to be a preparatory drawing for one of Modigliani’s portraits of Oscar Miestchaninoff (born Meschaninov, 1886–1956), a Russian artist active in Paris from 1907 to 1944, when he moved to America. Like Modigliani, who arrived in Paris one year before him, Miestchaninoff was very involved in avant-garde artistic circles and collected the art of his peers. The inscription “MECHANIN” appears to be a nickname for the sitter, possibly a joking identification of the fellow sculptor as a mechanic. Modigliani drawings are often faked, but we believe this one, traceable back to the artist himself, to be authentic.