Venezia

Before the First World War and the Russian Revolution, cosmopolitan Aleksandra Ekster was constantly on the move between Russia and France, and in 1924 she emigrated to Paris. After the October Revolution in 1917, Russian art was to serve the state. Since traditional painting was branded as bourgeois, many artists chose instead to work for the theatre. Women had a strong position in the avant-garde in Russia, and Ekster had a successful career as a stage designer in Moscow, and later as an artist and designer with a particular talent for vibrant colours and dynamic compositions. Her paintings combine cubism with futurism, and she, among others, introduced these new styles in her native country. Here Venice with its characteristic elements – bridges, water and pollards – in a closed, shallow pictorial space.