Two years after winning Slobodkina’s “Composition” (c.1939, Berkshire Museum) in an AAA raffle, AE Gallatin acquired this work.The ornate frame is original, and conjures the tradition of lavish Russian icons (Tufts catalog, p.23). In 1942, Slobodkina participated in a group exhibition at Gallatin’s Museum of Living Art along with 25 other abstract painters. She exhibited “Composition,” which Gallatin supposedly purchased at this time (Ibid). Commenting on this piece, ArtNews critic Rosamund Frost praised Slobodkina for her “extremely personal forms and color sense” (Rosamund Frost, “Abstract,” ArtNews 41 (June-July 1942): 39). The frame was chosen by Slobodkina: “It looks like a Russian icon practically. The colors reflect and…give play to that thing” (Slobodkina interview, March 26, 1991, Tape I, Side II).