Portrait of my Father, 1939 (oil on canvas)

Formerly in the collection of the English poet and collector, Edward James (1907-84). Sold by Sotheby’s in 1986. Portrait of my Father is a powerful anthropomorphic allegory, an evocative rendering of Tchelitchew's early surroundings. The central figures of the children are surrounded by the forest, a symbol for Tchelitchew's father, while all around human faces and animals emerge from the wintry Russian landscape of his childhood. Images of the artist's father are embedded in the leopard and polar bear in the background, and in the cat and the boulder in the foreground, which provides several profiles.