Guest from the Virgin Lands

Description

Author: Galimbayeva, Aisha. 1917-2008
A genre scene in an interior: two women at a tea table before a broad window, beyond which a wintry city extends. At left, a woman in a white kimeshek; at right, her seated companion in a scarlet blouse with a medal on her breast. The composition rests on the contrast between the warm, lit interior and the cool, silvery-blue panorama beyond the glass; the vertical of the window and drapery orders the space, focusing attention on the table set with a samovar, fruit, and painted dishware. The handling is freely painterly - broad impasto strokes, a shimmering surface, and generalised modelling of form while preserving the fidelity of objects. Lower right, a signature.