Portrait of Adrianne Allen

Details

Oliver Messel (1904-1978)
Portrait of Adrianne Allen
signed 'OLIVER MESSEL' (lower right)
oil on canvas
40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm.)
Painted circa 1929.

Provenance

A gift from the artist to Adrianne Allen on her marriage to Raymond Massey in 1929, and gifted by her to Sir Noël Coward in 1939.

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Sale Room Notice

Please note that this lot should be marked with a square in the printed catalogue and as such the lot will be removed to an off-site warehouse at the close of business on the day of the sale – free storage applies until 5pm on 2 April 2015.

Lot Essay

Adrianne Allen was an English actress, best known for her performance in the original 1930 West End production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives, in which she played Sybil alongside Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Coward himself. First noticed in 1926 by the theatrical producer Basil Dean, at her graduation show at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Allen began her career as Nina Vansittart in Coward’s play Easy Virtue, later going on to star in his play The Rat Trap, alongside her husband to be Raymond Massey. After their first appearance on stage together in 1930 Coward and Allen became close friends and in the 1950s both moved to the region of Montreaux in Switzerland, with Allen settling in Glion-sur-Montreux and Coward close by in Les Avants.

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