In Serviceman’s Wife, Ivan Olinsky (Elizabethgrad, Russia, 1878 - United States, 1962) painted a woman looking up expectantly, perhaps to greet her husband, who has just opened the door. Her skirt draws out the yellow of the pears in the background and her full lips match the apple’s rosy skin. The greys and blues of her shirt echo those of the white cloth on which the fruits rest. She is integrated into her environment as if she is simply one part of a still life. Olinsky specialized in idealized images of women, and his portraits were successful on the market, selling for up to $2,000 each in the 1920s. His work had grown even more popular by the 1940s, when he worked for the commercial firm Portraits, Inc. Critics noted that each of his women looked like “a hardy perennial despite her delicate air.”
[Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 76.5 cm]
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