Yekaterina Zernova. Anemones

Yekaterina Zernova's study "Anemones" is painted in oil on cardboard, probably in 1942: the catalogue gives the year with a question mark. Against a dark background lies an armful of lilac and pale yellow flowers with yellow centres; the artist's signature is in the lower right corner.

Yekaterina Zernova (1900–1995) was born in Simferopol, studied under Ilya Mashkov, Alexander Shevchenko and David Shterenberg, and was a prominent member of the Society of Easel Painters (OST). Her well-known paintings include "Factory Kitchen" (1929), "Handing Over the Tanks" (1931) and "Magnitogorsk Blast Furnaces" (1935). In 1974 she was named Honoured Artist of the RSFSR.

The Victory Museum counts Zernova among the front-line artists and writes that her "Anemones" combines a special fragility with strength.