Vera Ermolaeva

Vera Ermolaeva (Russian: Ве́ра Миха́йловна Ермола́ева) (November 2, 1893 – September 26, 1937) was a Russian painter, graphic artist and illustrator who participated in the Russian avant-garde movement.

Vera Mikhailovna Ermolaeva was born November 2, 1893, in the village of Kliuchi in the Petrovsk uyezd of the Saratov Oblast (now – the Maloserdobinsky District of the Penza Oblast). Her father, Mikahil Sergeevich Ermolaev, was a landowner and served as chairman of the zemstvo county government. Her mother, Anna Vladimirovna, was born the Baroness of Ungern-Unkovskaia (1854 - ?).

As a child, Ermolaeva fell from a horse, an accident which crippled her legs. Her parents consulted doctors in Europe, but she was still unable to walk without the aid of crutches.

Ermolaeva was educated in Europe – first at a secular school in Paris and then at a high school in Lausanne. Her parents sent her abroad not only for study, but also to help her recover from her accident.

In 1904, the Ermolaev family returned to Russia, and in 1905, they moved back to St. Petersburg. Vera’s father sold his estate, established a cooperative society called “The Labor Society,” and began to publish a liberal journal called “Zhizn’” (Life).

In 1910, Vera graduated from the Princess A. A. Obolenskaia Gymnasium.

In 1911, her father died.

In 1912, her older brother, who had become involved with revolutionary ideas and menshevism (see: "Mensheviks"), was arrested by the Tsarist government and exiled to an area near Irkutsk.

From 1911 to 1914, she studied in the studio of Mikhail D. Bernshtein and Leonid Shervud, where she became interested in cubism and futurism and was influenced by Mikhail Le-Dantyu, Ilya Zdanevich, and Mikhail Larionov. While at the studio, she designed the set for Zdanevich’s play, “Yanko 1” (1916).

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