Timofey Kovalenko was a graduate of the Nizhny Tagil Art School, where he would later hold a teaching position. The Ural people have long valued the strength of both body and spirit and believed that a person could only achieve that with hard work. This industrial philosophy shaped the painter’s view of the world.

An art historian Nina Kazarinova said:

The atmosphere of Nizhny Tagil influenced many of Kovalenko’s paintings. His painting ‘Man and Metal’ was inspired by the local steelworks. The painter portrayed a worker standing in front of vats with molten metal. The man devoted to his work is the main focus of the painting.

The artist created a monumental image of a man in profile. Such composition helps solve two seemingly opposite problems. On the one hand, this technique allows to draw an analogy between the great strength of the man and the metal. On the other, the artist managed to create a contrast between the character and the conveyor belt with the vats. Art experts believe that it was also the painter’s intention to demonstrate the human willpower to endure the severe working conditions, and also to show the molding of an extraordinary personality.

Kovalenko used a harmonious color scheme of black and brownish-ochre shades. He used a poster-like minimalistic composition. The use of simplified forms and saturated colors added an expressive touch to the canvas.

Kovalenko created the painting with no excessive details that embodied the spirit of that time. The painter’s view of the world was fully in line with the austere style aesthetics that was still gaining popularity with the Ural artists. Kovalenko did not just follow the trend but rather reflected his own beliefs in the paintings.