Portrait of K.B. Kustodiev 1917

Editor: So, this is Boris Kustodiev's "Portrait of K.B. Kustodiev," created in 1917. It's a pencil drawing, and there’s something so simple and intimate about the sketchiness of the medium that I find really appealing. What are your thoughts on it? Curator: Well, for me, the beauty lies in its materiality and the conditions of its production. The choice of pencil in 1917, during a period of immense social upheaval in Russia, is telling. Pencil was readily available, cheap. What does this suggest to you about access to artistic tools? Editor: That they may have been limited for some. Curator: Exactly. It suggests an intimacy dictated not by artistic choice alone, but also by material constraint. The work speaks volumes about the daily life during the revolution – of limited resources and adaptation. We could ask, too, about the labor of making such a piece at this time. What kind of economic realities framed its production and potential audience? Editor: So you’re seeing the pencil itself as a reflection of the political climate? That’s interesting; I was more focused on it being just a quick sketch. Curator: And it might be a quick sketch! But isn't the beauty of art history sometimes to consider how things are made and consumed? It prompts a different line of questions beyond simple aesthetic judgment, no? It demands we see it in dialogue with economic circumstances. Editor: That does add another dimension. I guess I was seeing the portrait more traditionally, just as a likeness. Now I’m also thinking about how the simple tools used might also communicate larger ideas. Thank you. Curator: And thank you, your close reading of its likeness helps highlight these very constraints I describe. Art offers a material witness to a particular time and place, so paying attention to the material tells an even bigger story, perhaps.