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Pretty Pictures

Solemn Faces

By ⋅ February 14, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

Today I stumbled on a collection of paintings and sketches from a woman named Julia Colton. As flea-market folklore has it, she was originally from the Soviet Union, and had a showing in Paris at some point in her life. Her work dates from the mid 1940s through the mid 1950s and depicts portraits of solemn looking characters often in dull and muted colors.

It isn’t clear when she arrived in the US, but it’s fair to assume that the hardships of Communist Russia, the Great Depression and WWII definitely colored her often somber and tragically bleak work.

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This is the grim and pensive beauty that I took home with me.

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I didn’t capture the entire collection, but it’s safe to assume I’ll document more in the coming weeks.

Discussion

3 comments for “Solemn Faces”

  1. I too like Julia Colton’s somber work. At what flea market did you see these oieces. I Have seen it at the Alameda Flea Market and bought a piece today.

    Thanks!

    Posted by cynthia | October 3, 2010, 4:23 pm

  2. Julia Colton is my grandmother. I’d love to talk to you about her work that you have.

    Posted by Julie | February 11, 2011, 12:18 pm

  3. You emailed me a while back about the work you bought. I lost your email address. I’m still interested in telling you about my grandmother’s work.

    Posted by Julie | October 27, 2011, 3:53 pm

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