Maria Voslinskaia (1912-2000), Venice, Bridge of Sighs, circa 1968.
Oil on canvas, 70 x 60 cm.
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Maria (also Mara) Voslinskaia - painter, born in 1912 in Riga (then Tsarist R. In her youth she traveled a lot, studied painting in Venice, Naples and Florence. In 1937 she settled in Antwerp, where she studied at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts. In 1939 she returned to Riga, which was soon incorporated into the Soviet Union. Until 1960, the artist was not allowed to leave the country, and the experience of suffering and deportation left a mark on her paintings from that period. In 1960, she managed to leave the USSR and settled again in Belgium. From then on, she regularly presented her works in exhibitions in Belgium and traveled extensively. In her works from this period there are recurring themes of a more "optimistic" nature, inspired by travel, including seaside landscapes, fish markets and Venice. She died in Brussels, in 2000.
