The old mine 1957

"The Old Mine" by Anatoli Papian is a big painting, almost two meters high and two and half meters wide, and it’s easy to imagine Papian standing in front of a huge canvas, wrestling with this image. Look at the earthy colors—browns, grays, and muted greens—thickly applied, you can almost feel the weight of the scene. I imagine he was thinking about labor, about people’s connection to the land, maybe even toiling away, trying to capture a specific mood, like the quiet determination of the miners. Notice how the figures emerge from the background, with the paint building up to define their forms. There's a realness to the way Papian depicts the human figure, they feel solid. That central figure with the shovel—the way Papian rendered the texture of his clothes, the weariness in his posture—it makes me think about Courbet, about the honesty and directness in his paintings of working people. Artists are always looking at other artists, using them as a point of departure, and a way to stay connected to the conversations around art.