Description:
Visual Description: This vertical oil painting depicts an interior scene, most likely an artist's studio. The composition is dominated by a large pale gray bust in profile on the right side. It’s a sculpted portrait of a man wearing a military cap with a visor and a uniform with collar insignia. The head’s features are angular, with a prominent nose, defined jaw, and short hair visible beneath the cap.
To the left and high up on a tall wooden pedestal is a sculpted bust with shoulders, seen in ¾ profile from the viewer. The head, probably done in plaster is partly bald, with a mustache and a goatee. Hanging on the side of the pedestal below the plaster bust is a death mask of the same sitter, both recognizable as Vladimir Lenin.
The likely maker of these works is depicted in the lower left quadrant of the picture. The man has dark hair with a receding hairline and wears a green, military-style uniform with visible creases and folds in the fabric. His eyes wide open, standing up and resting his right leg on an invisible support, he looks as if he measures the size of the sculpture (or the historical importance of the military persona).
The background includes interior elements partially obscured by the scene: rectangular window, long beige drapery on the right and a textile partition of the space on the left. In the bottom right corner rests a bundle of a folded fabric with stripes of red, orange, yellow, black. (Alexandra Kukulina '26; Voice: Es Malagon-Martinez '26)
Label Text:
This painting depicts a sculptor in his studio, moments after completing a monumental
portrait. The colossal bust most likely represents Georgii Zhukov, the Soviet Union’s top military commander during World War II. With his disheveled hair and the look of inspiration on his face, the artist dramatically gazes at his creation. In the background, Vladimir Lenin’s death mask and bust silently observe the moment, adding to its gravitas. Referencing ancient Roman sculpture and the visual language of early modern European
painting, Voloshin portrays his subjects as both heirs to a classical tradition and architects of a new social order—ones whose scale and power transcend the ordinary.
Tags:
painting; sculpture; portraits; busts; artists; working Subjects:
Painting; Portraits; Artists; Sculpture; Work; Canvas Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2020.14 |
