Russian Girl

ClassificationsPaintings-watercolors

Artist Millard Sheets (American, 1907 - 1989)

Date1961

Made AtRussia, Europe

MediumWatercolor and charcoal on paper

Dimensions7 × 6 in. (17.8 × 15.2 cm)
Framed: 14 × 12 × 1 3/4 in. (35.6 × 30.5 × 4.4 cm)

Credit LineAnn and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection

Object number2018.6.42

DescriptionMerritt “Muggs” Van Sant first met Millard Sheets in the Bradbury building where he was selling insurance and Sheets was painting the building’s iconic iron stairs. Muggs was fascinated by Millard’s talent, and Sheets was about as personable a type as one comes by. The pair became fast friends, travelling together to paint—a hobby first introduced to Muggs by Sheets. Between 1942 and 1962 Sheets sent Muggs Christmas cards and gifts in the form of paintings with personalized inscriptions. After Muggs’ passing, David Starry-Sheets, Millard Sheets organized the sale of the Muggs Van Sant Collection, and it was purchased by Ann Cullen. Paintings in this collection, such as Russian Girl, tend to be snapshots of Sheets’ travels abroad sent back home to his good friend Muggs. The vast majority of these paintings are portraits of young women from Mexico, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Islands painted while Sheets was serving as an arts ambassador for the U.S. State Department. The dated inscription perhaps indicates some greater inside joke regarding these paintings was shared between Sheets and Muggs.

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