Sofronova (Safronova), Antonina Fyodorovna

(b. 1892 Village of Droskovo, Oryol guberniya – d. 1966 Moscow)

Painter and graphic artist

1910–1913 – Studied in Moscow at the studio of F. Rerberg.

1913–1917 – At I. Mashkov’s studio.

1920–1921 – Taught at the State Free Art Studios in Tver. Author of several articles on the theory of new art.

Took part in exhibitions beginning in 1914, including: 1914 – the Jack of Diamonds group; 1917 – the World of Art group and the Moscow Association of Artists; 1925 – the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris; 1931 – the Thirteen group; 1962 – personal exhibition in Moscow’s Central House of Writers.

1923 – Designed the cover for Nikolai Tarabukin’s book From Easel to Machine.

1931 – Member of the Thirteen group.

“Since 1926 [Sofronova] began painting scenes of Moscow in oil. She loved to walk down Moscow’s streets and frequently took promenades along the Moskva River. All of these places were not far from where she lived, in BolshoyAfanasyevsky Lane, located between the Arbat and Prechistenka Street. <…> As Sofronova strolled along, she would make little sketches with faint pencil marks and indications of color, or sometimes simply remembered what she saw — she had practiced this hard while living in Droskovo. Returning home, she would paint the scene preliminarily in watercolors with whitewash (eventually producing a series of such paintings). In selecting which motifs of the city to paint, Sofronova was mostly attracted to those views which had a receding line. For example, she loved to paint riverfronts, city streets, and alley sidewalks. Her paintings were spacious, with lots of sky, river views, and trees with sparse foliage; the light was soft, with no sharply defined shadows.”

Irina Yevstafieva, Antonina Sofronova

Khudozhniki gruppy Trinadtsat. Iz istorii khudozhestvennoy zhizni 1920-1930-kh gg. [The Artists of the Thirteen group: From the History of Art in the 1920s—1930s]. M.: Sovetsky Khudozhnik, 1985. P. 193.