Artist: Andrey Avinoff (1884–1949), Russian-American entomologist and artist; Director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh (1926–1946); brother of the artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff.
Title: Portrait of William Frederick “Bull” Halsey Jr. (1882–1959), Fleet Admiral, United States Navy.
Dimensions: Image: 9" x 6 1/2". Frame: 15 1/2" x 12 1/2".
Date: ca. 1944.
Materials and Techniques: Ink drawing on University Club stationery, matted and framed; frame with easel back.
Provenance: The Avinoff Estate.
Condition: Good. The sheet was sent by mail and bears two horizontal fold marks. Unexamined outside of the frame.
Signed: Signed twice in pencil and in pen l.r.; additionally signed by W. F. Halsey l.l.
Inscriptions: With the printed letterhead of the University Club, Pittsburgh, at top; dated “31 December 1944.” Accompanied by a typed note: “Dear Mr. Avinoff: In accordance with your request, Admiral Halsey has asked me to forward to you your sketch of him which now shows a copy of his signature.”
Museums: Works by the artist are held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Art Movements, Periods and Schools: American School XX C.
Note: A wartime portrait of Fleet Admiral Halsey, reflecting Avinoff’s close connections within American cultural and scientific circles in Pittsburgh.
Andrey Avinoff (1884–1949) maintained a close friendship and scientific collaboration with the novelist Vladimir Nabokov. Their acquaintance dated back to pre-revolutionary Russia, where Avinoff knew Nabokov’s father; upon emigrating to the United States in 1940, Nabokov was among those who reestablished contact with Avinoff. Avinoff is also thought to have partly inspired the character of the butterfly collector Konstantin Godunov-Cherdyntsev in Nabokov’s novel The Gift (Dar).