I didn’t include in yesterday’s post this image of the 1937 dynamic stainless steel statue "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" by Soviet sculptor Vera Ignatyevna Mukhina, but today it came back to my mind while preparing the notes for another lecture (more about it later) and rewatching Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker.
The 25 metre statue represents the gigantic figures of a man and woman holding the hammer and sickle.
Orginally the statue crowned the 35-metre-tall Soviet pavilion at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937).
Judged by Soviet critics as "the masterpiece of an epoch", since it depicted the Soviet aspirations and ideals, the statue was disassembled, refurbished and re-erected three years ago on top of a large constructivist pavilion, apparently recreating the original exhibition pavilion from the 1937 World's Fair in Paris that it was designed for.
So where's the Tarkovsky connection? I'm sure film fans have already spotted it: the statue is also the logo of Mosfilm, Russia's largest movie studio, founded in the 1920s. To discover more about its productions, you can check out its YouTube channel.
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Great images! Stalker is one of the greatest films I've watched - and this post puts it in a whole new light.
Posted by: watch movies | November 20, 2011 at 01:40 PM