Filip Andreevic Maliavin (1869 Kazanka/Governorate of Samara/Russian Empire - 1940 Nice) Russian peasant woman (Baba) in traditional costume Painted with a quick, broad, soft-pastose style, Maliavin's oeuvre is dominated by portraits of Russian peasant women. Maliavin studied at the Academy in St. Petersburg from 1892 and under Ilya Repin from 1894. In 1895, he created one of his earliest known works - "Peasant Girl Knitting a Stocking", which was purchased by Pavel Tretyakov for his gallery. This work is also Maliavin's first painting in which red, his favourite colour, became the dominant tone. From then on, Maliavin took part in numerous exhibitions and wealthy patrons had their portraits painted by him. The years 1895 to 1899 were a time of particularly intense productivity. Maliavin's painting style was unconventional - too bright and rebellious for the tastes of the time. In 1900, Maliavin travelled to the World Exhibition in Paris, where his painting "Laughter" was shown and awarded a gold medal (later acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in Venice). After his return to Russia, he lived mainly on a farm near the village of Axinjino near Ryazan and devoted himself to rural motifs in sometimes large, epic dimensions, such as his largest painting "Whirlwind" (1906). From 1908 to 1915, Maliavin rarely exhibited, as he was fiercely attacked by official, conservative critics. In 1922, Maliavin emigrated to France, where he first settled in Paris and then in Nice in the 1930s. Many of the paintings he created there continued to have a thematic reference to Maliavin's Russian homeland. In 1924, Maliavin exhibited his works with great success at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris. Oil on canvas; signed in Cyrillic on the upper right. 70 cm x 60 cm. Frame. Oil on canvas. Signed in Cyrillic.