Young fisherwomen in Ondarroa

Malinowska was a Russian painter of Polish origin. Like many national and international artists, she fled Paris for Spain following the outbreak of the First World War. She worked here for over a decade, joining innovative artistic and literary circles. Her whereabouts after the 1920s are unknown. Although she mainly resided in Madrid, she was a regular visitor to the Basque Country, where she painted and exhibited on several occasions. This work appears to have been painted in 1918, during the first of her sojourns in the north. She subsequently set many of her works in San Sebastian, Mutriku, Biarritz and Ondarroa. Young Fisherwomen in Ondarroa has clear links to a tempered symbolism whose roots can be found in Gauguin and the Fauvists. Regrettably, rather than contributing to the modernisation of the Spanish artistic scene, it was instead the prevailing docility of the Spanish scene —and Malinowska’s quest for financial security— that ultimately tamed her work.

Mikel Lertxundi Galiana

Inventory number: STM-001178-001