Zuka (Zenaida Gourievna Booyakovitch) was born in Los Angeles in 1924. Her parents left Russia in 1917 during the Revolution and settled in America. Zuka studied at the University of Southern California where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her mentor, Estella Katzenellenbogen took her around Europe, England and France. She settled in Paris studied at the Alliance Française and attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière the mythical place in the legendary neighbourhood of Montparnasse.
In 1950, she married Louis Mitelberg known as TIM a political cartoonist in Paris.
Zuka followed her own path, an unconventional one relative to contemporary trends.
Her choice of subjects were many and varied, portraits, historical themes of American life and the French Revolution, landscapes, birds and cows, extremely well painted with intense colours and lively brushwork. Her images evoke the gaiety and innocence of folk art.
Zuka’s website …
A wikipedia page about her …
EXHIBITIONS
1945 : University of Southern California, Los Angeles
1946, 1947 : International Art Gallery, Los Angeles
1964, 1966 : Galerie Lambert, Paris
1973, 1976, 1978 : Betty Parsons Gallery, New York
1976 : Montclair Museum, Montclair (New Jersey)
Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara (California)
1981 : David Stewart Gallery, Los Angeles
1988 : Fondation Mona Bismarck, Paris
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington (D.C)
1989 : Baruch College Gallery, New York City
Grey Gallery, New York City
Otis Art Institute Gallery, Los Angeles
New York State University, Albany, (New York State)
Banque Lambert, Bruxelles, La Femme et la Révolution
1993, 1980 : Centre d’Art de Flaine (Haute-Savoie), France
1993 : Maison Française de New York University, New York City
1970, 1975, 1979, 1982, 2001, 2005 and 2007 : Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris
2007: Retrospective Exhibition, Avallon
2008-2009: Les Oiseaux de Zuka, Musées Charlieu, Charlieu
Cover of the catalog for “La Révolution française de Zuka,” 1988.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Banques Bruxelles Lambert, Belgique
Bernard Baruch Library, New York City
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris
France Telecom Inc., New York City
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Louisiana
Ministry of Telecommunications, Paris
Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris
Notre-Dame, Indiana
Quaker Society, New York City
Rockland Public Library, Rockland, (Maine)
The Art Collection of the First National Bank of Chicago, Chicago
Twentieth Century Fund, New York City
In 1989, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) of New York City, commissioned two wall paintings Blackbirds in the Cherry Tree and Seagulls achieved en 2006
The City Hall, Thousand Oaks, California – 7 paintings
From the French Revolution, Women’s March series:
Are you still alive , Zuka?
I’ve been thinking about you.
xo, Thea
Hello,
We received a note about Zuka’s death around six years ago. The last time we saw her was in 2014 in L.A. and we understand she passed away peacefully at her farm in Dijon in late 2016.
Since I created this page, a Wikipedia entry has been generated for her at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuka.
John