Artist Sergey Gavrilyachenko painted the still life Sentinel. Morning of my Homeland in 2010. The painting shows a cast-iron desk clock with a figurine of Joseph Stalin. The artist placed a toy soldier on the windowsill next to the clock. Outside the window, outlines of houses and factory chimneys are visible in the dim light of early morning.
Sentinel. Morning of my Homeland
Creation period
2010
Dimensions
150x80 cm
150 x 80 centimeters
150 x 80 centimeters
Technique
oil on canvas
Collection
Exhibition
1
Open in app#1
Sergey Gavrilyachenko
Sentinel. Morning of my Homeland
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Gavrilyachenko built the composition of the picture so that the clock seems to be a huge monument to Stalin, and the soldier looks like a tiny figure of a sentinel at its foot. In this way, the artist expressed the idea of a little man who seems defenseless against time and power.
The artist used different shades of gray and pink-lilac as the basic colors, conveying the light of the early dawn over the city. Such a color scheme imparts the painting with a disturbing atmosphere. The city view in the background also looks gloomy: the buildings are dreary, not a single light is seen in their windows.
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In 1998, Gavrilyachenko created an earlier version of the painting that was simply called The Clock. In the first version, the clock’s similarity to the monument is not so noticeable, the composition is shown on the background of snowy branches outside the window, and several armed tin soldiers are placed at the base of the small statue.
Sergey Gavrilyachenko. The Clock. 1998/
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Sergei Gavrilyachenko was born in the city of Shakhty, Rostov region, in 1956. He graduated from the Rostov Pedagogical Institute and from the V.I. Surikov Moscow Academic Institute of Art. At different periods, the artist created realistic paintings, drew book illustrations, and painted portraits.
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The history of the Don Cossacks was one of the main topics in Gavrilyachenko’s works. He painted portraits of Cossack women in traditional costumes and of chieftains in festive attire. The artist also created themed paintings that showed scenes of seeing a soldier off to the army, a cavalry attack, or a respite between fights.
Sergei Gavrilyachenko. The Attack. 2001. Source: www.artlib.ru.
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Sergey Gavrilyachenko. A Cossack. 2005. Source: www.artlib.ru.
Among the Cossack works by Gavrilyachenko, the painting A Stirrup Cup is especially famous. The artist painted it in two versions. On the first painting with this title, the artist only painted the figure of a woman with a mourning shawl on her head. The later, second version depicts a scene of a Cossack woman bidding farewell to her husband. The wife offers him a stirrup cup, so that he drinks it before leaving.
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Sergei Gavrilyachenko. A Stirrup Cup. 1991. Source: www.artlib.ru.
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Sergei Gavrilyachenko. A Stirrup Cup. 1999. Source: www.biblioclub.ru
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In various years, Sergey Gavrilyachenko painted several landscapes. However, he considered them as a recreation between his themed works and hardly ever presented them at exhibitions.
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Sergei Gavrilyachenko, Clouds, 2003. Source: www.artlib.ru.
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Belgorod State Art Museum
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Sentinel. Morning of my Homeland
Creation period
2010
Dimensions
150x80 cm
150 x 80 centimeters
150 x 80 centimeters
Technique
oil on canvas
Collection
Exhibition
1
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