Montparnasse 

Jury Annenkov painted this oil on canvas titled ‘Montparnasse.’ Annenkov was a Russian émigré artist living and working in Paris, and the piece perhaps captures something of the emotional landscape of exile. The reclining nude, a classic trope, here seems to be a ghostly echo. The body, painted in soft hues and delicate lines, blends into the background. Annenkov's style is influenced by the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century, particularly Constructivism and Cubism, but it also expresses a unique sensibility shaped by personal experience. There is a dreamlike quality that permeates the canvas. A barely-there chair with an open book, a discarded shoe on the floor, a snaking line indicating the absent-present form of a lover. These are the elements that contribute to the painting's sense of melancholy and reflection. The figure's languid pose and the open book beside the chair imply a moment of introspective pause, a moment suspended between reality and dream. Annenkov seems to invite us to consider the nature of identity, memory, and belonging in a world marked by displacement and change.