
Morgan Martin
Head of Department
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Sold for US$2,550 inc. premium
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Head of Department

Specialist, Head of Sale
Provenance
Kraushaar Galleries, New York.
Private collection, Connecticut.
Private collection, New York.
The present pair of works executed by John Koch in 1958 served as studies for his finished painting of the same year titled Three Musicians. In Three Musicians, Koch depicts his wife and pianist, Dora (neé Zaslavsky) Koch (1904-1987), partially out of frame holding a tea service tray in front of respected writer and Condé Nast Publications editor, Leo Lerman (1914-1994) who is seated closest to the cello. The model for the third figure between the two is believed to be pianist and music teacher, Paul Rotella. The present two studies provide a unique lens into Koch's thought process as he constructed the composition for one of his most recognizable paintings and reveals how carefully he considered the placement of his models. Rotella is seen in one of these studies standing rather than seated holding a drink in his right hand, as he does in the finished painting, and in another study, Koch considered having one of his models, likely Lerman, hold a violin. Though London is inscribed on each work, Three Musicians most likely depicts the interior of the Kochs' New York apartment in the El Dorado building on Central Park West.