Laundresses

Zofia Romer (1885–1972) and her husband Eugeniusz, the owner of the Tytuvėnai estate, spent the year 1917 in Byelorussia with their children. Fleeing from war-torn Lithuania, they took refuge on the Aninsk estate near Vitebsk. They lived in the servants’ quarters, rented some land, and farmed. The Romers had no permanent servants of their own, except a cook, so that Zofia had to look after the household chores herself. There was little time for painting, or even drawing. When she had a free minute, she would hurry to catch on paper what she could see around her. She drew men involved in everyday activities, she drew children, and portrayed the familiar sight of war refugees. Her models included the people who came to help out with the hard work. In addition to a watercolour of laundresses, a portrait of her cook Marytė, mentioned by Zofia’s biographer Jolanta Širkaitė, has survived from that period.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė
Expositions: “More Than Just Beauty: The Image of Woman in the LAWIN collection”, 12 October – 11 November 2012, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius

Zofia Romer (1885–1972) and her husband Eugeniusz, the owner of the Tytuvėnai estate, spent the year 1917 in Byelorussia with their children. Fleeing from war-torn Lithuania, they took refuge on the Aninsk estate near Vitebsk. They lived in the servants’ quarters, rented some land, and farmed. The Romers had no permanent servants of their own, except a cook, so that Zofia had to look after the household chores herself. There was little time for painting, or even drawing. When she had a free minute, she would hurry to catch on paper what she could see around her. She drew men involved in everyday activities, she drew children, and portrayed the familiar sight of war refugees. Her models included the people who came to help out with the hard work. In addition to a watercolour of laundresses, a portrait of her cook Marytė, mentioned by Zofia’s biographer Jolanta Širkaitė, has survived from that period.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė
Expositions: “More Than Just Beauty: The Image of Woman in the LAWIN collection”, 12 October – 11 November 2012, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius