Born in 1898, Maria Siniakova achieved success as a painter and printmaker—first working as an apprentice in Kharkov and later in Moscow. Her intention to become an artist may have stemmed from her family’s involvement in the arts when she was a child. By the age of 11, she and her four sisters had become muses for the poets, artists, and writers of the Ukrainian and Russian avant-garde. Her family home, Krasnaia Poliana, just outside of the city of Kharkov in eastern Ukraine, was a gathering place for the artistic and literary circles of her time. Unlike many children, she and her siblings played a role at these forums, interacting with visitors to their home.
As a young artist, Siniakova exhibited at the Union of the Youth in St. Petersburg from 1913 to 1914, and began to focus on book illustrations, designing the covers and plates for collections of poetry and fiction. Her early acquaintance with poets and writers may have inspired her to illustrate Ukrainian and Russian literature, working on everything from the book’s front jacket to interior images. For the 1916 cover of The Fourth Book of Verse: I Love Your Eyes!, a book of poetry written by her brother-in-law, Nikolai Aseyev, Siniakova crafted two covers: one printed in black and another with collaged additions. In the edition with the collaged flower, Siniakova constructed the pink, maroon, and white bloom using cloth, an artificial flower, and gold paper.
Throughout her career, Siniakova remained a member of Ukrainian and Russian avant-garde circles, and illustrated further works by Aseyev. Working in printmaking, watercolor, or collage, she drew inspiration from Ukrainian folk art while embracing Futurist ideals in her practice.
In 1925 she designed the cover and lithographic illustrations for Aleksei Kruchenykh’s The Robber Van’ka-Cain and Son’ka the Manicurist: A Criminal Novel. The black-and-white images are charged with violence and emotion: in one, a writhing, coiled snake is ready to pounce; in another, the snake has ensnared a man who opens his mouth wide, desperately attempting to escape. Elsewhere in the book, couples tug at each other’s hair and aim knives at their partners, tangled in conflict. In the gentlest of the illustrations, Siniakova depicts four women—possibly her sisters—encircled in a group hug and gazing admiringly at one another.
Unlike a drawing or a painting, these artist’s books were widely distributed throughout present-day Ukraine and Russia, yielding a wide audience for Siniakova’s collaborative work.
Emily Cushman, Collection Specialist, Department of Drawings and Prints, 2024
