The monument to Peter I 1942

Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva made this dynamic sketch of the monument to Peter I sometime in 1942. You can see that she has worked quickly, allowing the contrasts in black ink to articulate the scene. Look at the hatching that describes the shapes of the clouds, and the slashing, confident strokes which give the trees in the foreground their volume. It’s almost like she's creating a shorthand for what she sees. This is how I feel when I’m in the studio, trying to capture something quickly, before it fades. The whole composition rises diagonally, up to the figure of the Tsar, defiant on his rearing horse. This feels so immediate, like a fleeting impression. Thinking about the piece, I’m put in mind of the prints of Félix Vallotton, whose bold areas of black and white also convey a graphic punch. It’s this sense of exchange, across different times and places, that excites me about art.