Picasso refused to paint Lani; whether that was out of pride or suspicion is hard to say. To my knowledge, the French-Jewish author Maurice Sachs (pictured below) was the first to record doubts about her, writing archly in his diary in the spring of 1929 about her splashy arrival in Paris. He noted her thin track record as an actress and the vagueness of her need for portraits.
Sachs teased Maria’s portrayers for not being more suspicious of her, and observed that her agents, “the Abramovicz brothers,” hardly seemed to be brothers at all. Were the three passing off Maria’s brother as Max’s for some reason, or was this just a miscommunication?
Sachs had quite a criminal mind himself, so he was well-positioned to spot the hijinks of others. And his suspicions didn’t dissuade him (perhaps quite the opposite) from latching onto their scheme, according to a 1929 article that reported Sachs collaborated on the Lani film (La Meilleraye, “Maria Lani ses peintres et le cinéma,” Pour Vous 25, May 9, 1929).
Here’s my rough translation of the relevant passage from Sachs’ diary (which was published in 1948 by Editions de la Nouvelle Revue Critique) followed by the French original:
“Spring. Two astonishing characters called the Abramovicz brothers appeared in the middle of Paris. They are the agents for an extraordinary unknown actress whom no one has seen act, Miss Maria Lani, and they have resolved to have her portrait done by all the famous painters of the moment. What exactly they’ll do next with these portraits no one knows. They don’t say it explicitly.
I would have thought these very famous rich painters, a bit mistrustful as famous people are, would have refused flat out. Well, not at all … everyone’s gotten to work, save the cautious Picasso.
Marie Laurencin said very aptly, ‘Take one of my canvases and call it Portrait of Maria Lani.’ The Abramoviczes gallantly declined, but I think Marie Laurencin also wanted them to pay for this painting….
I have seen Miss Lani, who is, indeed, irresistible. She isn’t conventionally beautiful, but she is seductive. She will be, the Abramoviczes say, the greatest star of her time.
One day one of the Abramovicz brothers appeared in full mourning clothes; I asked his brother what had occasioned so much black. “He lost his father,” the brother responded, himself very cheerfully dressed.
We expect the greatest results from the Abramovicz enterprise.”
“Printemps. Il s’est présenté, au milieu de Paris, deux étonnants personnages qui se nomment les frères Abramovicz. Ils sont les impresarii d’une actrice extraordinaire, inouïe, que personne n’a vue jouer, Mlle Maria Lani et ils ont décidé de faire faire son portrait par tous les peintres célèbres de son époque. Ce qu’ils feront ensuite, précisément, de ces portraits, nul ne le sait. Il ne nous le disent pas explicitement.
J’aurais cru que ces peintres très célèbres, riches, un peu méfiants comme sont les gens glorieux, refuseraient tout net. Eh bien, pas du tout … tout le monde a travaillé , sauf le prudent Picasso.
Marie Laurencin a dit très justement: “Prenez une de mes toiles et appelez-la: portrait de Maria Lani.” Les Abramovicz ont refusé avec galenterie (mais je crois que Marie Laurencin avait désiré qu’on payât ce tableau …
J’ai vu Mlle Lani qui est, en effet, irrésistible. Ce n’est pas qu’elle soit régulièrement belle, mais elle a de la séduction. On fera d’elle, disent les Abramovicz, la plus grande star de l’époque.
Un des frères Abramovicz est apparu un jour en grand deuil; j’ai demandé à son frère la cause de tant de noirceur: “Il a perdu son père,” m’a repondu le frère qui était lui-même fort allègrement mis.
Nous attendons les plus grands résultats de l’entreprise Abramovicz.”