KROPIVNITSKAYA Valentina Evgenievna

February 16, 1924 (Moscow) — December 23, 2008 (Paris)

Graphic artist

Valentina Kropivnitskaya attended the district art school, and studied under the guidance of her parents — E. L. Kropivnitsky and O. A. Potapova. Kropivnitskaya was a member of the group Lianozovo Circle, which gathered a lot of painters, writers and poets — nonconformists.

Kropivnitskaya was married to the artist Oscar Rabin. In this marriage she was independent in art from artistic quest of her husband.

Kropivnitskaya’s first artworks were realized firstly in literature, later — in painting. She wrote marvellous stories describing peculiar world, which had nothing in common with surrounding soviet reality. “Only in late two-three years she discovered visual arts, and, to the astonishment of everyone, she expressed herself in art definitely, with confidence, and in her original way. Both the technique of drawing and character of images and, above all, her peculiar original world appeared at the same time in her art style. This world amazed with its wholeness and completeness.

As contrasted to her father, who was universal painter, she had neither searches no hesitation. The choice was clear and definitive: technique — black chalk on paper; manner of drawing — clear outline, faint volume and touchiness; themes — fantastic creatures, half-animals or half-devils, with people’s psychology and behaviour. She painted Russian churches and izbas (peasant’s log huts), fantastic plants and these beings, so called ‘animals’, who were sitting, lying or praying in the landscape.

They were clever, kind and light-hearted; perhaps, they expressed the artist’s longing for more morally perfect world than the human one.” (L. Kropivnitsky, 1965).

In 1970s the works by Kropivnitskaya became less tranquil; drawings were characterized by melancholy, despair and hopelessness.

In 1978 Kropivnitskaya together with her husband immigrated to France and lived in Paris.

She took part in semi-official, informal and international exhibitions since 1966, including:
1974 — the exhibition Progressive Strömungen in Moskau 1957–1970 (Museum Bochum, Bochum, Federal Republic of Germany);
1975 — the Exhibition of paintings of Moscow Artists at the pavilion House of Culture (Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, VDNKh, Moscow).

Works by Valentina Kropivnitskaya were shown at the group exhibitions in Moscow, Tbilisi, Sopot, Poznan, Florence, Lugano, Bochum, Dallas, Zurich, Mongeron, Jersey City, London, Paris, Tokyo and others. The personal exhibitions of the artist were held in private galleries in London (Great Britain, 1978), Oslo (Norway, 1981 and 1985), Paris (France, 1983 and 1985) and others.

In 1993 the exhibition of works by Kropivnitskaya was organized together with works by Oscar Rabin; the common exhibition was held in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

Works by Valentina Kropivnitskaya are in many museum and private collections in Russia and abroad.