(b.1901, Moscow – d.1976, Moscow)

Painter and graphic artist.

Myslina attended Konstantin Korovin’s classes.

From 1922 she is a student at the Higher Art and Technical Studios ( Vkhutemas)

1926 – 1929 Attended the Revolutionary Artists Association (AkhR) studios and was a member of the Youth Fellowship of the  Revolutionary Artists Association (OMAKhR)

1926 Took part in the 8^th “Everyday life of the populations of the USSR” exhibition organized by the AKhR АХРР

1937 Arrested as a “traitor of motherland family member” and placed in the Akmolinsk labor camp for motherland traitors wives, part of the Karaganda correctional labor camp.

1938 – 1946 Stays in  the village of Dolinka, part of the Karaganda correctional labor camp, where she works as a painter for the local social club.  легаря

1946 Myslina is released from the camp and moves back to Moscow

1947 Joins the Moscow Union of Artists

Myslina is best known as an animal painter. Her works, mainly monotypes and watercolors, were featured in many exhibitions. She worked a lot as a post card designer and children’s books illustrator, but could rarely afford to do oil paintings due to precarious live conditions that the following document illustrates very well:

PETITION

from Myslina Maria Vladimirovna

residing in Moscow, ulitsa Chaykovskogo, 22 apt.3

passport  №

In 1937, after the arrest of my husband Kaabak Vladimir Mikhaylovitch, I, in turn, was detained and, like many others, went through all the hardships that a slandered  and outcast person could go through. Today justice has been restored, I have been discharged and I ask you to bring this act of justice to an end by providing me with living quarters. At the present moment, I am staying with my mother in 9 square meters.

I’m an artist, member of the Union of Artists (membership card № 2003), I took part in various exhibitions both in Moscow and in other regions and have works in four Soviet museums. It goes without saying that my professional activities are incompatible with these living conditions. I don’t even have a place for an easel which is like a machine tool for me, I don’t have a table and I’m not even mentioning the other tools I need for my work.

I am a native moscovite. How could it happen that after my life has been ruined, my “nest” ravaged (crossed off), my health destroyed, I am homeless in the city where I was born and where I have lived all my life. After everything I had to endure, all I want is peace and the possibility to work. I don’t have either.

In 1926 my husband and I converted at our own expenses a totally inadapted space into a wonderful workshop for artists: we installed central heating, built walls, etc. Now, it looks as if we did it for others and got nothing in return: he died in exile and I’m alone and homeless. I don’t claim this particular workshop, I’m just asking for a room where I could live and work, this would bring me back to life and give me the opportunity to serve the Soviet nation with my art.

<> of November 1956