Where was the photograph taken?
The place where the photograph was taken looks like an artist’s studio, with numerous canvases, both finished and half-done, propped up against the walls. The entire setting is very classical; no modern or Cubist pieces are in view. There are no works in progress, either. It could also be a modest art dealer’s storage space. The small paintings or reproductions hanging on the walls are also very classical. The largest one appears to be a view of Venice.
Both in appearance and atmosphere, the place resembles one of the studios where Diego Rivera worked. Although the large painting on the left of a man sitting in a chair, surrounded by a somewhat allegorical décor, is not altogether unlike certain works by Rivera, it is not his, neither is the portrait of the bearded man behind them nor the painting in the foreground, of which we can only see the upper section.
The paintings do not look like they are Angelina’s either, even though little is known of her work during that period.
Going through all the painters and friends Picasso and Rivera either did or did not share, and examining photographs of their paintings, their studios at that time, and considering whether they were enlisted in the war, one of them stands out: Zinoviev.
Alexandre Zinoviev, or Zinoview, was a Russian painter who moved to France in December 1908. He had a revolutionary past in Russia. After having been arrested and imprisoned, it was "proposed" (did he have any choice?) that he move to France and keep an eye on the Russian revolutionaries who had taken refuge there and were preparing their return. Among them were Lenin and Trotsky. This arrangement provided him with a secret agent's salary of 500 francs a month, which allowed him to live very comfortably.
Zinoviev was a member of all the Russian artistic and literary groups and became Rivera's friend, undoubtedly through Angelina. He painted a portrait of Rivera in 1913, very much in the style of the paintings shown in the studio that appears in the photograph.
A photograph of Zinoviev in his studio confirms that it is indeed the place where the photograph was taken. We see Rivera’s portrait in a prominent position. It is likely to have been taken in 1913 or 1914.
After moving to France, Zinoviev lived and worked in the Cité Falguière, a group of studios that were used by numerous artists including Modigliani, Brancusi, Soutine, and Foujita. It was located in the 15th arrondissement, across the Gare Montparnasse train tracks from Rue Schœlcher, where Picasso and his lover Eva Gouel were living at the time.
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Summary