A UKRAINIAN WOMAN AND HER SUITOR: A SOVIET PORCELAIN PLATE, STATE PORCELAIN FACTORY, PETROGRAD, 1923

Another plate of the same design by Vengerovskaya is in the collection of the Lomonosov Porcelain Museum, Hermitage, Saint Petersburg (inv. no Mz-С-453).

Stella Georgievna Vengerovskaya (b. 1892) joined the State Porcelain Factory as a painter in 1923, where she often executed designs after Alexandra Schekotikhina-Pototskaya, which significantly influenced the stylistic direction of her own art. Both artists drew inspiration from folk and old Slavic imagery and favoured merry, festive subjects such as weddings, dance and music scenes. Vengerovskaya mimicked Schekotikhina‘s quick energetic brushstrokes and the stylized, icon-inspired approach to figures and outlines, however her palette was richer, and her compositions more densely packed with colour and texture. Vengerovskaya's designs tended to favour the south of Russia and her native Ukraine. Her subjects lacked the overt propagandistic aspect, focusing more on story-telling and striking aesthetics.