Portrait of Colonel Vasiliy Tsvetkov

Isaak Brodsky had a huge impact on the work of Alexander Laktionov. The teacher’s typical artistic techniques – a talent for delicate drawing, fine detail, and clearly depicted day-to-day nuances – form the basis of Laktionov’s own approach.

This painting depicts Vasily Tsvetkov, a famous figure on the Leningrad cultural scene and keen collector. During the Great Patriotic War he headed an agit-prop department at the Political Directorate for the Leningrad Front and the Leningrad Military Publishing House. Tsvetkov was friends with numerous artists and writers. His collection included a vast number of manuscripts and drawings by his contemporaries. In 1942-1945, he kept a diary from the front, in which he asked leading figures from the worlds of science and art to write. He attached leaflets, brochures, and posters made in the besieged city, and that became an invaluable record in the city’s heroic history. Tsvetkov kept this blockade diary, and was a favourite subject among painters who painted his portrait frequently.

The work was included in the exhibition:

“The Memories of the War” – Institute of Russian Realist Art, Moscow, Russia (09.05.2015-01.08.2015).