Alexey Grachev belongs to the first generation of artists who were born in the Soviet-era Kaliningrad. He evolved as a professional in the 1970’s. By then, the Kaliningrad branch of the Union of Artists of the USSR had existed for 25 years and actively supported its novice members: most of them were provided with workshops and housing, and had regular orders.

Like Izolda Sorochkina, the co-author of the painting In the Port of Kaliningrad, Grachev devoted much time to the portrait genre, and also glorified the busy rhythm of ports, construction sites and shipyards. Artists were fascinated by industrial culture, its dynamics and imagery. In many respects they were guided by the artistic discoveries made by George Nissky, Tair Salakhov and other representatives of the austere style, who often worked in the genre of industrial landscape. In the 1970’s, the artistic language underwent energetic renewal. The new generation of artists abandoned the pathos of socialist realism; this style, associated primarily with the Stalin era, had outlived itself by then, giving way to a new sincerity in depiction of working people.

Grachev and Sorochkina sensed this and strove to express the authentic spirit of the time without reference to the canons that had led their predecessors. Often, working on a particular plot, they lived in fishermen’s collective farms, spent days and nights in the fish port and went to the Atlantic with the sailors. The truthfulness and lack of glamorization became the main quality criteria for artists, hence the scrupulous study of the everyday life of the heroes of their paintings.

The key figure of that time was the machine operator: a crane operator, a loader or engine driver. The painting In the Port of Kaliningrad is dedicated to these people and their work.

Grachev and Sorochkina depicted the everyday life of the port city in an expressive and dynamic manner. It is conveyed through the high angle chosen by the authors, and primarily, through the rigid geometry of forms. Such strict linearity combined with restrained colors was a hallmark of many urban landscapes.

Reinforced concrete columns and cranes became a symbol forming a new urban aesthetic of that era. In their canvas, Grachev and Sorochkina demonstrated the beauty of everyday life.