Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Deineka

(Russian, 1899-1969)

Sketch for mosaic plafond 'Donbass' for "Paveletskaya" metro station (1941)

Footnotes

Provenance
Private collection, Moscow

PLEASE NOTE THAT PERMIT FOR EXPORT FROM RUSSIA HAS NOT BEEN OBTAINED FOR THIS LOT. IT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE VIEWINGS IN MOSCOW BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.

The Moscow station with the working name of "Pavelentskiy Vokzal" or "Donbasskaya" began to be designed in 1938 by the architects V. A. and A. A. Vesnins. Both architects were staunch adherents of constructivism, which was clearly reflected in their project. The architect brothers invited Deineka to create a series of mosaics for the main platform. Deineka was attracted by the simplicity, dynamism, and expediency of the architecture of the future station. The artist, by that time was at the peak of his popularity, working so successfully as he did within the Soviet sphere of art. Arguably the 1930s was the most prolific and important period in Alexander Deineka's oeuvre; in this decade he created several significant works such as Mother, 1932, Behind the curtain, 1933, Future pilots, 1937 and the ceiling design for the Red Army Theatre. He had already created panels for Mayakovksya station, and building on this experience, he developed a series of 14 octagonal mosaic panels, united by a common theme - "the Moscow-Donbass railway line".

Deineka aimed to create the effect of a "breakthrough into the sky", so that the metro passengers could raise their heads and see an opening into the world above. Some of the panels included industrial scenes because Donbass at the time was a centre of mining and heavy industry.

Deineka himself wrote of these mosaics: ... here the colour repetition was considered, and hence the rhythm with an increase in the strength of colour in the middle panels ...But these mosaics you will not find now at the station. The war made its own adjustments to the compositional structure of my works, as well as to the work of all and any of us. (A. A. Deineka, From my work practice, M., 1961, pp. 56).

After Deineka had produced the panels, only eight were sent to the station site. Due to the war, the rest were left at the workshop. As a result of regular bombings at the site of the station, the administration ordered the mosaics to be removed urgently from the yard as "they can attract attention with their golden reflection." The mosaics were lowered by crane into pits and cement poured over them, for temporary storage. At this point, Deineka was not involved in the tracing of the whereabouts of his creations and they were covered until 1942/3.

The artistic and architectural vision of the Vesnins' structure was no longer possible as comprehensive changes were made to the project. The metal structure that was intended for the station remained in the occupied territory of Dnepropetrovsk and the station was built according to temporary plans. During that time the architects I. G. Taranova and N. A. Bykova were creating Novokuznetskaya station and Bykova recalled that she was not eager to add the 'busy' mosaics to the light vaults as the ceilings were already so ornate. However, her husband had them installed before she got back to the site. (I. Ostarkova and I. Lebedeva, Deineka. Monumental art. Sculpture, Moscow, 2011, pp. 156) The six mosaics were recovered and installed without unity or order and not according to Deineka's vision. The other panels were lost forever. The present sketch was never realised as a mosaic in the final instance and is a notable example of a panel with unfulfilled potential. The sketch beautifully displays the magnificent sky ceiling design at the same time as incorporating the theme of the Donbass railway line.