Artist – Petrov -Vodkin
In 1926, Petrov-Vodkin wrote several options for the painting “Workers”. A little later, the similar composition was repeated in the figure for the cover of the Red Panorama magazine (1927). “Workers” caused at one time ambiguous assessments of criticism. Creating a generalized image of the proletariat, the artist deliberately emphasizes the external rudeness, simplicity of his characters. The meaning of the painting “Workers” is in the plastic dialectics of the character of a new person, seen by Petrov-Vodkin at the time of a hot dispute. It is known that initially the work was called “discussion” and under this name was exhibited in the 1920s at exhibitions. (ABOUT.Sh.).
Russian portrait. XX century: St. Petersburg, 2001. WITH. 195.
For Petrov-Vodkin, 1925-1927 became a time of persistent search for a picturesque expression of the work topic. The life of the history of the class that performed at the forefront now interested the artist, who in the pre -revolutionary years of seeing truly folk features primarily in the peasantry. He seeks to give various interpretations of this topic – from almost symbolic to purely household, preserving in all cases a high philosophical and moral level of criteria.
The artist said: “”… I write workers (there are many options). For what? To master and understanding a person of that time, those days living next to me. Who is he who has shifted the country from a dead point? This analysis of events and the search for the type and were my inner deep work. “. (From the transcript of the performance to.WITH. Petrova-Vodkin on a creative self-report in Losh 29.03.1938)
In the option belonging to the Russian Museum, a straightforward solution of the composition is given. The picture depicts four workers, two of which are captured by a fierce dispute. Creating a generalized image of the proletariat, Petrov-Vodkin deliberately emphasizes the external rudeness, the simplicity of his characters. It is known that the work was originally called “discussion” and under this name was exhibited in the 1920s at exhibitions.
