Grigory Mikhailovich Shegal was one of the greatest masters of Russian easel painting of the Soviet period. By the time of writing Portrait of the Artist’s Wife in 1940, the author was a recognized artist, who was known in various genres of artistic creativity from poster to genre painting. Grigory Mikhailovich Shegal was one of the greatest masters of Russian easel painting of the Soviet period. By the time of writing Portrait of the Artist’s Wife in 1940, the author was a recognized artist, who was known in various genres of artistic creativity from poster to genre painting.
Details of the portrait of this mature woman, the wife of the artist, bear evidence that the woman in front of us is quite wealthy. For instance, she is wearing a black fur coat and a headdress with a veil, and in the background we can see some paintings in wide gold frames. There is a solid engagement ring on her hand and thin gloves on her the knees. These signs of wealth indirectly indicate high social status of the artist. But he did not achieve that status at once.
Grigory Shegal was born in 1889 in Kozelsk, Kaluga Province. His father was a watchmaker and an amateur photographer who died at the age of 26. Having become an orphane, the future artist was forced to work as an apprentice boy in the engraver’s studio, and all his meager earnings was only enough to pay for classes with a student tutor.
