Honored Artist of the Mordovian ASSR Elena Rodionova came from the Rostov region. She is a graduate of the sculpture department of the M. B. Grekov Art School in Rostov. Since 1961 Elena Rodionova lived in Mordovia and worked in easel painting and decorative sculpture. Her works were displayed at numerous nation-wide exhibitions. Today they are housed in the leading museums of Russia: the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Central Naval Museum of St. Petersburg, the I. D. Voronin Museum of Mordovia and the S. D. Erzia Republican Museum of Fine Arts. Some of them are on display in the permanent exhibitions of contemporary art in Mordovia. In most of Elena Ivanovna’s works one can feel the spirit of the Mordovian people; she often turned to the ethnic images of Moksha and Erzya people — historical figures and heroes of national legends, and created fantastic ceramic figurines based on Mordovian myths.

The small sculpture “Spring” is a one-figure composition in the genre of everyday life. The rural hard-working woman was a popular character of the sculptor, her artistic ideal, and she poetized the daily grind. Elena Rodionova’s work reveals the peasant nature of Mordovians, shaped by communal life in harsh forests and work in barren fields. A life like this was one that placed a high value on thrift, endurance, and selflessness. Amiability and honesty, shyness, and reticence that hides a sense of self-worth dominate in the Mordovian national character.

The sculptor shows a peasant woman who is not young, but sturdy and physically strong. Professional observation allowed the sculptor to note a special physique of the Mordovian woman, her leisurely manner, good posture, the smoothness of her gestures and calm facial expressions. The smoothly modeled shapes suggest an active and engaged character. The peasant woman faces the spring wind and the sun — she stares, slightly squinting her eyes. The composition progresses vertically, from the loosened clods of earth to the head, covered with a shawl. The figure seems heavy and austere, it shows somewhat coarse simplicity, but the steep, rounded and smooth curves impart an enticing femininity to it.