ZOYA LERMAN (UKRAINIAN 1934-2014)
Nudes (Eastern Motif), 1957
oil on canvas
109.2 x 154.4 cm (43 x 60 3/4 in.)
signed lower left, as well as signed, titled, and dated on verso

PROVENANCE
Jurii Maniichuk and Rose Brady Collection

EXHIBITED
New York, Ukrainian Institute of America, Ukrainian Socialist Realism: The Jurii Maniichuk and Rose Brady Collection, September 14-October 7, 2012.

LOT NOTES
Zoya Naumovna Lerman was a Ukrainian painter and graphic artist best known for her portraits and genre scenes. In 1959, Lerman graduated from the Kiev Art Institute, where she studied under well-known practitioners of Socialist Realism such as Sergei Grigoriev (1910-1988), Volodimir Kostetsky (1905-1968), and Georgiy Melikhov (1908Ñ1985). The following year, Lerman was inaugurated into the Union of Artists of Ukraine, and began exhibiting in 1963.
Nudes is a prototypic example of Lerman's early style, with subtle modulations of light on the sitters' bodies, roughened brushwork of the drapery and background, and a limited, earthy palette complicated by primary yellows and reds. Its alternative title, Eastern Motif, likely derives from the chestnut and turquoise-colored headdress of the lounging woman.

The following lots come from the collection of the Ukrainian-born American lawyer Jurii Maniichuk (1955-2009), who amassed nearly 150 large-scale pieces of Ukrainian Socialist Realism of the 1950s-1980s. Maniichuk acquired these paintings (primarily from working artists or their heirs) while working in Kiev as a legal consultant for the World Bank in the 1990s, and brought them to the U.S. in 1999. With UkraineÕs newfound independence from the USSR in 1991, Socialist Realism fell out of favor with most collectors and curators. Recognizing their historical value and aesthetic appeal, Maniichuk made it his preeminent goal was to preserve the paintings for future study and appreciation. As part of that effort, his widow, Rose Brady, now the collectionÕs owner, lent nearly half of the collection long-term to the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York (2012-2018). Select works have also been featured at the Brooklyn Museum (Russian Modern, 2011-2016), at East West Fine Art (formerly known as Gallery on Fifth) in Naples, Florida (We the People. Everyday Life in Post-Soviet Union and modern-day Southwest Florida, November 29-December 20, 2014; Rescued from the Flames, Soviet Era Social Realist Paintings from the Collection of Jurii Maniichuk and Rose Brady, December 2013-January 2014), and at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida (Ukraine: The Maniichuk-Brady Collection of Socialist Realist Art, August 27-December 4, 2015).

This lot is being sold without reserve.