Léon Schapochiknoff - The Red Terror, 1926

Léon (Lev) Schapochiknoff (1882-c.1962)

The Red Terror

1926

Signed and dated lower left

Chalk, ink and watercolour on paper

24 x 23 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Paris.

Condition:

In very good condition.

Additional information:

This drawing can be read as a poignant, symbolic depiction of the dark reality of the young Soviet regime. In Moscow in 1926, a chopping block with a bloodied axe stands at the centre, against the backdrop of the city. The image evokes the executions and political repression that characterised Bolshevik rule from the Revolution onwards and continued into the 1920s.

After the Revolution, Schapochiknoff settled in Paris, where he made, among other things, symbolic representations and city views of Moscow. From Paris he had to rely on reports from the Soviet Union for his image of developments in Russia.

Little is known about Léon Schapochiknoff. This drawing offers a rare insight into his artistic practice.