Olga Vladimirovna Rozanova, one of the brightest representatives of the Russian avant-garde, has always inspired artists and poets. Aleksey Yeliseyevich Kruchyonykh dedicated his book “Let’s Grumble” to “O. Rozanova, the first artist of Petrograd.” In 1915, Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky published a series of three poems with the inscription, “The poems for the radiant O.V.R.”, and Pyotr Vasilyevich Miturich invented a name for her — OLROZ.
Olga Rozanova was one of the main figures of the “Soyuz Molodyozhi” association along with Vladimir and David Burliuk. The Russian poet Benedikt Konstantinovich Livshits recalled, “She had a big and unique personality, she was someone who knew exactly what she wanted to achieve in art and made her own way to the goal, taking after nobody. Despite their differences, even such uncompromising artists as Goncharova and Exter had to reckon with her. These three remarkable women have always been at the forefront of Russian painting and their determination brought about achievements that would have been impossible without them.”
Olga Vladimirovna Rozanova died suddenly from diphtheria at the age of 32. Nearing the end of her eventful and short-lived career, she created her own version of Suprematism, different from that of Malevich. It is known that, among the followers of Suprematism, Kazimir Malevich valued Rozanova the most.
Saint Petersburg artists Elena Gubanova and Ivan Govorkov created a portrait of Olga Rozanova in the form of an abstract composition from an asymmetrical wood slice. The artists polished the slice from one side so that it became smooth and painted it to resemble a graceful female profile wearing a hat. The other side was left with the natural wood texture, which contrasts with the treated part and appears light and dynamic.
Elena Gubanova (born in 1960 in Ulyanovsk) and Ivan Govorkov (born in 1943 in Leningrad) formed a creative duo back in 1990. Both artists graduated from the Repin Academic Institute in Saint Petersburg. They mainly work in the techniques of abstract art.
