The painting ‘Iron Ore Mining’ was created by Pyotr Pokarzhevsky after his trip to Nizhny Tagil. He depicted the view of the development site of the Vysokogorsky ore deposit, which was used by the plants in Nizhny Tagil, Alapayevsk, Nevyansk, Verkh-Isetsk and others.

The artist created the composition by painting several perspectives of the same scene throughout the canvas. He meticulously depicted various equipment that was used at that time. In 1928, there already were rope hoists, as well as the first steam excavators. In the 1930s, specialists completed a fundamental reconstruction, and, as a result, the quarry was equipped with the latest technology. Pokarzhevsky’s painting captured this process at the in-between stage: here, new excavators coexist with animal-powered transport (transport that is pulled by animals). The painter also showed that the works were carried out with both jackhammers and pickaxes.

Pyotr Pokarzhevsky is one of the outstanding painters of Moscow’s artistic scene of the 1920s — 1930s. The art expert Oksana Churukanova pointed out his special approach to colors. She wrote that his first teenage studies already demonstrated that unique perception:

During the first five-year plan of the Soviet Union (established in 1928 to develop the Soviet economy), painters started to depict their country’s achievements with great enthusiasm. They took creative trips to the regions where the industrialization and organization of collective farms were carried out. Pyotr Pokarzhevsky joined the circle: in 1929, he visited the Karabash and Zlatoust plants, then in 1930, he went to Nizhny Tagil, and in 1931 he saw the cotton plantations of Kokand, the kendyr plantations of Pishpek (now known as Bishkek), and the Ridder Polymetallic Complex in the south Altai Mountains.

Oksana Churukanova wrote that the artwork, that was generated during the first and second five-year plans, formed an art style, which reflected the way people thought back then and encompassed the achievements of various art movements: