Metrostel op station Komsomolplein 1930 - 1935

This diminutive card, “Metrostel op station Komsomolplein,” shows us a view of a Moscow metro station rendered with shades of gray, in what I can only imagine would be a bustling transport hub. I wonder what Mospo Sostawitol was thinking as they stood on the platform to make this image. Maybe they liked the repetition of the globe lights or the clean lines of the train, the way the crowd clustered and echoed the architecture. When I see such closely toned work like this, I think of the paintings of Gerhard Richter and his use of gray to flatten and render everyday scenes into something both haunting and familiar. I like to imagine that artists are in constant conversation, across time and space, seeing and responding to each other’s visions. And I imagine that this image may have been a way for the artist to make sense of a changing city, to capture the spirit of a place and time.