The graphic portrait, which is now kept in the collection of the Kemerovo Regional Museum of Fine Arts, was created by Hans Richard Preiss, an artist of German descent. He was born in 1904 in Königsberg and received academic art education in his hometown. Preiss participated in many European art exhibitions, and in 1937 his own exposition was held in Paris. Critics praised the artist’s technique, his exquisite palette and ability to show the character of each of his models.

Preiss could have remained just a respectable artist, if not for his first wife. He married Gertrude Gennis, a communist intelligence agent, and soon he himself began to spy in favour of the USSR. Before the start of World War II, spouses made a duty trip to Moscow. After the Nazi forces attacked the Soviet Union, the couple, as ethnic Germans, were arrested and exiled to Siberia, to Tomsk. 

In Dzintari, Preiss met Moscow artist Aria Dimze. She attracted his attention thanks to her sophisticated beauty and slender figure, fashionable post-war hairstyling and exquisite clothes. It was Dimze who posed for the artist for this graphic portrait.

Preiss drew it with a simple pencil, quickly and accurately. He subtly traced out the model’s face, and executed the hairstyle and clothes with cursory touches. The author’s strong fascination with this woman is evidenced by her numerous portraits, which, judging by their titles, the artist painted tirelessly: Aria at the Piano, Aria in a Coat, Portrait of the Artist Aria Dimze, Aria… The artists met again in 30 years later, and Preiss painted her once again.

This graphic portrait entered the collection of the Kemerovo Regional Museum of Fine Arts in 2001. It was donated by Lyudmila Biryukova, the adopted daughter of the artist, who holds some of Preiss' works. Biryukova sent one of Aria Dimze’s painted portraits to the artist herself, and at the beginning of the 21st century the painting was presented at an exhibition in London.