7 June 2017
Worker and Kolkhoz Woman
Plaster, height 164 cm.
15,000-20,000 GBP
The present lot is a plaster cast of the 1936 sculpture created by Vera Mukhina as a model for the 24.5 metre stainless steel monument, which crowned the Soviet pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris.
Provenance: Acquired by the present owner from the ROSIZO Sculpture Depository in Moscow in 1993.
Private collection, UK.
Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by Marfa Zamkova, Mukhina’s granddaughter.
Exhibited: Tyrannei des Schönen. Architektur der Stalin-Zeit, MAK Museum, Vienna, 6 April–17 July 1994.
Superwoman. Work, Build and Don’t Whine, GRAD gallery, London, 18 June–15 October 2016.
Related literature: For other casts of the model, see E. Petrova (ed.), Vera Mukhina, St Petersburg, Palace Editions, 2009, pp. 60, 61, plates 26, 27, illustrated; pp. 151, 152, Nos. 45, 46, 47, 48 and 49, listed.
Masterpieces of Soviet Painting and Sculpture, London, Unicorn, 2016, p. 279, illustrated.
For the final monument, see postcards, Exposition Internationale, Paris, 1937.
B. Ternovets, V. I. Mukhina, Moscow–Leningrad, IZOGIZ, 1937, illustrated.
P. Suzdalev, “Rabochii i kolkhoznitsa”, Novyi mir, No. 7, 1971, illustrated.
O. Voronova, Vera Ignatievna Mukhina, Moscow, Iskusstvo, 1976, illustrated.
P. Suzdalev, Vera Ignatievna Mukhina, Moscow, Iskusstvo, 1981, illustrated.
N. Voronov, Rabochii i kolkhoznitsa, Moscow, Moskovskii rabochii, 1990, illustrated.
A. Rogachev, Prospekty sovetskoi Moskvy. Istoriia rekonstruktsii glavnykh ulits goroda. 1935–1990 gg. , Moscow, Tsentrpoligraf, 2015, illustrated.
Notes on symbols:
* Indicates 5% Import Duty Charge applies.
Ω Indicates 20% Import Duty Charge applies.
§ Indicates Artist's Resale Right applies.
† Indicates Standard VAT scheme applies, and the rate of 20% VAT will be charged on both hammer price and premium.