"Oxeye Daisies," 1973, oil on board, 15 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. (40 x 45 cm.), signed by the artist and dated lower right. Signed and affirmed on the verso in Cyrillic. Oskar Rabin`s oeuvre rarely features natural imagery. His early still-life paintings abound in the dour minutiae of the life of a typical Soviet citizen, such as dry fish or bottles of vodka. In combination with the Lianozovo "barrack-style" landscapes these, still-lives became powerful metaphors of a grim Soviet existence. For the present lot, Rabin vacillates from his usual somber manner to produce a joyful yet intensely charged minor masterpiece. The oxeye daisy is usually associated with "He loves me, he loves me not" or "effeuiller la marguerite," game, in which by plucking daisies' petals, lovers can determine whether their feelings are reciprocated.
