1926
oil on canvas
209 õ 200
In the 1920s, Deineka worked hard on the theme of industrialisation. The construction of factories and plants was seen as something of historical proportions, since they were building the industrial foundations of the future country. The artist, like all other masters in the Society of Easel Artists (SEA), believed that art’s basic task was to find an artistic language capable of expressing the times precisely and in appropriate imagery.
The master used the method of montage that is typical of photography and cinema to build the composition. The figures of people contrast with the large scale, volume and colour, as if they are set off against the background. The volumes of the figures are depicted in complex perspective and are separated from the background of a graphically precise drawing of buildings, all of which gives the composition a special dynamic.
Deineka was attracted to the image of the new age man, his appearance and sculptural quality. He wrote: “I was drawn to the lacework of factory constructions, but they are only the background. I always depicted man in the large plane, in strong and typical movements.”
