Galina Bogatyryova-Kononova was a sculptor and painter who lived and worked in Mari El. Bogatyryova-Kononova created an entire dynasty of six artists who were her close relatives. Her son became an academician and professor with a PhD in History of Art, her grandson was an architect, granddaughter — a member of the International Art Foundation, while her son-in-law was a lead artist of a magazine. The works of Galina Fyodorovna are kept and exhibited not only in the Museum of Moscow, which was founded by her son, the artist Ivan Alekseevich Kononov, but also throughout Russia and abroad. She worked mainly as a sculptor, but also left a number of paintings — lyrical and iconic portraits.

The painting “Mari El” was created in the year when the 400th anniversary of the founding of Yoshkar-Ola was celebrated. The impressive canvas depicts a beautiful and confident woman — a generalized image of a resident of the Mari region, a symbol of the Mari El Republic. This strong, calm woman gently but confidently holds in her hands a dish filled with clusters of rowanberries. The rowan stands here as a symbol of a rich and abundant harvest, the generosity of the Mari land, and also as a talisman. Since ancient times in Mari mythology, the fruits of the sacred heavenly mountain ash tree resisted the forces of evil and protected the Mari land and its people.

The artist depicted the woman in a folk costume, her heroine wears earrings, a necklace and a bracelet made of silver coins, which are also a symbol of wealth and abundance. Black braids flow down her shoulders. The woman’s face is round, with prominent cheekbones, under the soft arches of black eyebrows we see the fascinating green color of her elongated eyes. Her lips are full like a child’s. Gentle soft hands easily and gracefully hold the bowl with the gifts of the forest. The figure seems to dissipate into a blurry pink background, emerging from the depths of the woods. The light color pallet of the painting supports the delicate image of the woman. The tones of her clothes, the background of the painting, the color of ripe rowanberries in her hands, the woman herself in the prime of her years — all these signs evoke the feeling of autumn. But here the theme of autumn is not conveyed through the wilting of plants, but through their triumph — it is a harvest and festival, an abundance of natural gifts and confidence in the future.