Description:
Visual Description: This horizontal oil painting depicts five pale-skinned women seated on grass, sharing food and drink in an outdoor setting. They are arranged in a loose semicircle, with food spread on a white cloth in the center. On the left, a woman wearing a white sleeveless dress and a pale coral headscarf sits turned in profile, lifts a clay jug to her mouth to drink. Beside her, a woman in a pale yellow dress, a white pinafore, and a white headscarf sits facing forward, her hands folded on her lap.
At the center, a larger woman in a light pink short-sleeved shirt and dark navy skirt sits cross-legged, wearing a white headscarf. She cuts through an oval brown loaf of bread, holding it against her chest. On the right, a woman sits upright in a pale purple dress with short sleeves and a white headscarf, her left hand folded in her lap. The other reclines beside her in a light blue, sleeveless dress and a white headscarf, leaning back on her left arm with her legs extended and bare feet visible. Her eyes are closed, her head tilted down and resting on her right elbow.
The white cloth in the center holds various items: a blue cup, a white bowl filled with seven eggs, a brown ceramic jug covered with a white cloth, ten round brown rolls, and a bunch of green onions.
Along the lower left edge of the canvas, behind the woman who holds a ceramic jug, is a partially visible transistor radio with a pulled antenna. (ChatGPT November 5, 2025; edited for content. Voice: Alexandra Kukulina '26)
Label Text:
Unlike early Soviet art, which often emphasized workers actively engaged in labor and the drama surrounding it, paintings from the 1970s more commonly depict moments of rest or leisure between episodes of work. In these lyrical compositions, artists sought a sense of harmony, drawing inspiration from a wide range of artistic traditions. The sleeping female figure in this painting, for instance, is based on The Sleeping Ariadne—one of antiquity’s most celebrated sculptures. The dignified and idealized female figures set within a pastoral landscape evoke Renaissance aesthetics, while the painting’s color palette and overall style reflect the influence of Paul Gauguin and other Post-Impressionists.
MT, 2025
Tags:
painting; women; eating; drinking; vessels; food; times of day; social interaction Subjects:
Painting; Drinking in art; Food; Gastronomy; Social interaction; Women; Canvas Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2020.17 |
