Youri Pavlovitch ANNENKOV dit Georges ANNENKOFF... Lot n° 44

Portrait of Maurice Paz (1896-1985), founding member of the French Communist Party. Original oil on canvas, signed lower right "G. ANNENKOFF". Circa 1926-1928. Framed. H. 71 x W. 58 cm. H. 96 x W. 83 cm (frame). Provenance - Given by the artist to Maurice Paz (1896-1985). - Now kept by his son. Related works - Portrait of Magdeleine Paz (1889-1973)", Maurice Paz's first wife, whose portrait is now lost, and which probably formed a counterpart to ours. - Portrait of André Paz (1898-1871)", cousin of Maurice Paz, oil on canvas (81 x 65 cm), circa 1930, sold in 2004 by Sotheby's London, erroneously identified as the portrait of René Guerra. - Portrait of Jonas Lied (1881-1969)", oil on canvas (81 x 54 cm), painted in 1933 and held in the Wilhelm Wilkens collection. The work is accompanied by its French export passport n° 245709 issued by the French Ministry of Culture. The work is accompanied by its French export passport n° 245709 issued by the Ministry of Culture. Maurice Paz, man of law and power "Comrade Paz, I speak frankly and even brutally, to save what can still be saved" (Letter from Leon Trotsky to Maurice Paz, July 11, 1929). Maurice Paz was born in Paris in 1896, the son of Emile Paz, managing shareholder of the Société générale d'illumination, which lit the first trains of the Paris metro before being entrusted with the illumination of the Universal Exhibition in 1900 and the gas-neon lighting of the Eiffel Tower. After studying at the Lycées Michelet and Condorcet, Maurice Paz enrolled in the khâgne, with a view to studying history. At the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the army during the First World War, first as an officer, then as a captain in the artillery. On demobilization in 1919, he joined the 9th Section of the Socialist Party, where he met Boris Souvarine (1895-1984), also portrayed by Georges Annenkoff, who encouraged him to join the Committee of the Third International. Passionate about justice, Maurice Paz took the oath of office on February 11, 1920, and became one of the secretaries of Joseph Paul-Boncour (1873-1972), then defending the CGT in the lawsuit brought against it by the public authorities. He was chosen as lawyer by Pierre Monatte, accused in the investigation opened following the strikes of May 1920. He was also second-chairman for Boris Souvarine in the February 1921 trial, where his plea made a great impression, inaugurating a long career marked by numerous political trials: the defense of the Black Sea mutineers, in particular Louis Badina, for whom he was counsel, and the defense of Albert Lemire and Roger Hagnauer in the Mainz trial in 1923. In 1924, Maurice Paz was also Souvarine's lawyer in the lawsuit brought by the newspaper "Le Matin" against "L'Humanité" for its campaign against "the abominable venality of the press". In 1925, he defended Marcel Body, a communist activist returning from Russia. A member of the Communist Party since the split and keen to travel to Soviet Russia, Paz received the necessary support for his trip from Souvarine. He was able to leave at Easter 1922 with his companion, Magdeleine Marx, for a six-month stay. Working as a translator with the Communist International (Kommunistitcheskiï internatsional), he met Leon Trotsky for the first time, whose personality made a deep impression on him. In March 1924, he took part in the subscription launched by B. Souvarine for the publication of Leon Trotsky's "Cours nouveau". It seems likely that it was during the years 1925-1926 that he met Georges Annenkoff, who painted his portrait, as well as those of Boris Souvarine and many other personalities linked to the Russian Revolution. On November 20, 1927, the magazine "Contre le courant" was launched, an organ of the Communist opposition, founded with Magdeleine Paz, Marcel Hasfeld, Fernand Loriot, Marcel Roy and Clément Delsol. Initially, the group received support (including financial) from Russian oppositionists in France, including Rakovsky, Piatakov and Préobrajensky. On December 1, 1927, L'Humanité announced the exclusion of Maurice Paz and Magdeleine Marx. "Contre le courant" disseminated the texts of the Russian Opposition and tried to set itself up as a federator of French oppositions, but the group's political future depended on the decisions of its inspirer, Leon Trotsky, who had telegraphed Maurice Paz as soon as he arrived in Prinkipo (Turkey) in February 1929. The latter went to Constantinople in March, and on his return published an exalted article entitled "Quatre jours avec Trotsky" ("Four days with Trotsky"), (Contre le courant, 2