Press Release, 6.03.2024

Photo: Detention of Yelena Osipova at one of the protests in St. Petersburg / Photo by Yelena Lukyanova, Novaya Gazeta

An online auction of paintings by the famous St. Petersburg artist Yelena Osipova will be held in central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow. All proceeds from the sale will go to the author of the works.

Yelena Osipova is of advanced age and does not feel well; in May 2023 she suffered a stroke after persecution for her actions for peace. The auction will be held to support the artist, as well as to help preserve her creative legacy (part of the funds raised will be used for these purposes).

Yelena Osipova extremely rarely sells her paintings, and she does not sell political posters at all, since she “does not sell principles”. Therefore, auction participants will have a unique opportunity to purchase her works, the value of which will only increase with the years.

The auction will take place in a special Telegram chat in three stages. In each stage there will be one lot only – one painting.

Photo: Paintings by Yelena Osipova

Anyone can see all the three paintings at the exhibition at the office of the Yabloko party in Moscow (Pyatnitskaya 31 building 2) from 7 March to 29 March (the day the auction ends) on weekdays, during working day from 10:00 to 19:00.

Yelena Osipova is a Russian artist from St. Petersburg, known for participating in pickets with political posters painted by herself. She was born in Leningrad (now St.Petersburg) on 11 November, 1945. She graduated from the pedagogical department of the Tavricheskaya Art School, and throughout her life she taught painting and drawing in schools and institutions of the art education system.

Since 2002, Osipova has been actively participating in protests against government policies, in city-protection rallies, commemorative events, going to single pickets with her drawings and posters, she was detained by the police many times, her posters were illegally confiscated and taken away by provocateurs. Yelena Osipova protested in connection with the Second War in Chechnya, the terrorist attack on the Dubrovka Theatre, the terrorist attack on a school in Beslan, against the war in Iraq, as a sign of sympathy for deported migrants, in defence of those involved in the “Bolotnaya rally case”, against the war in Syria, in memory of Boris Nemtsov, a Kremlin critic murdered in Moscow, and also spoke out categorically against the military actions in Ukraine. People started calling the 78-year-old artist began “the Conscience of St. Petersburg” for her active civic position.

In April 2022, the Milan City Council awarded Yelena Osipova honorary citizenship, which had previously been awarded to Acad.Dmitry Likhachev and musician Mstislav Rostropovich.

In addition to political posters, Osipova’s works include pictures of cityscapes and nature and portraits. Yelena Osipova does not sell political posters because she “does not sell principles”.

On 31 January, 2023, an exhibition of political posters by Yelena Osipova was opened at the office of the St. Petersburg Yabloko, but the very next day police officers removed the posters from the office “for inspection”. In May 2023, the artist suffered a stroke.