Eduárd Pávlov was born in 1937 in Bíla Tsérkva. He is a Ukrainian painter who lived and worked in Odésa for almost 40 years, then emigrated to the USA, where he remained until the end of his days. A representative of a group of young, talented Odésa authors, whose works opposed the official rules of social realism in the 1960s, he tended towards expressive and monumental forms. In the mid-90s, he began to deal mostly with abstract art.

The work “Woman with a Jug” was made in 1993. The main figure on the large canvas represents a naked woman who stands 3/4 to the viewer in an open pose. She holds a dark clay jug in her hands. The woman’s forms are rounded and soft, her facial expression is calm, and she is depicted in light brown tones. The background is deep red, and the woman’s silhouette is highlighted in bright red.

The forms of the woman resemble the forms of the Paleolithic Venus figurines created by people of the Stone Age. Such figurines were distributed all over the world and on our territory as the heritage of Trypillian culture. Since ancient times, a woman’s body with its rounded forms has been a symbol of fertility. Usually, it was about a pregnant woman – a vessel of procreation, a marvellous body capable of giving life. The jug in the woman’s hands emphasises the symbolism of the situation, as it refers to the talisman function and the full cycle of life.

The author raises the topic of procreation and the importance of this issue for humanity at all times. Often, women suffered from reducing the purpose of their existence to childbearing and ensuring family comfort. However, the work is not provocative. The woman bears a calm expression on her face and has a relaxed posture. Her confident look shows her pride in her assignment. She accepts her condition, perhaps she is already expecting and realises her mission in procreation.