Work. 1926 Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939)

Description of Kuzma Petrov Vodkin’s painting The Workers

This artist was always at the forefront of the revolution, but nevertheless not all of his canvases saw the light of exhibition lamps. Some of his canvases were categorically banned by the censorship, while others became the embodiment of a new artistic revolutionary trend.

For example, "Bathing the Red Horse" is the most striking work of the artist and it was she who was recognized throughout the world as the banner of the Soviet avant-garde.

But we are faced with an entirely different canvas, not so large-scale, but very characteristic and vivid. In front of us are simple men, workers. It does not matter where they work, the important thing is that they proudly wear the title. And then all the propaganda disappears and there is a canvas that is so ordinary and mundane that many critics were a little shocked. Look closely at their faces and figures. All four are powerful, strong and strong-willed men, but different in character.

The two in front are emotional. One tells something, and the other listens incredulously, slightly distancing himself from the narrator and looking at us in confusion. The other two are in the background, smoking and thinking about something of their own. Oh if they knew how their faces give away their way of thinking. One is thinking about something bright and even smiling a little, or maybe he overhears the conversation of the first two and slightly laughs at them. But the fourth is very sly, something he is up to and it is something obviously disgusting and unpleasant.

The artist did not heroize his workers, as many of his colleagues did. Nor did he idealize them, as was fashionable at the time. He simply showed four sturdy men with their textures and with their real expressions on their faces. And not the slick and kind of overly handsome ones like those of his social realist colleagues. It seemed to him that this was the right thing to do and more honest. And even more truthful. And that is why this picture was not often shown to the public.