Olga
Zhekulina

Olga Zhekulina was born in 1900 into an educated noble family. She received her initial art education in a private studio of the famous Konstantin Yuon. In 1918—1921 she studied at the Free Art Studios under K. A. Korovin.

In the 1920s, Olga Zhekulina worked a lot and she often exhibited at that period. In 1926, she became a member of the famous Zhar-Tsvet artistic group. She participated in three of the four exhibitions held by this group. During those years, Korovin’s influence on her was decisive. Her work is characterized by pictorial dynamics, sharpness of unusual points of view. She was fascinated by the depiction of the fleeting variability of nature. Following the movements of light and air, she conveyed the world of human moods...

O. Zhekulina devoted many years to scenic painting. She designed propaganda teams in the 1920s, she decorated the scenery of Oscar Wilde’s “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People” for a branch of the Maly Theater in 1930. For almost twenty years she worked as an artist in the puppet theatre of the Moscow House of Pioneers. At the Moscow Union of Artists, she was a member of the theatre and cinema section.

(From an article by L. Rtishcheva)