Culver City,
California
x
Maker: Aleksei Rezaev
The Revolutionary Who Slept Through the Revolution
Date Made: 1993
Country: Soviet Union
Method: Tempera paint on fiberboard
Measurements: 90 cm x 60 cm; 35 7/16 in x 23 5/8 in
In this painting, Stalin resembles the Russian samovar. Rezaev portrays Stalin as the “Revolutionary who slept through the Revolution,” even though Stalin was 39 years of age and took active part in it. Upon seizing Petrograd, Stalin was appointed People's Commissar for Nationalities' Affairs. Thereafter, civil war broke out in Russia, pitting Lenin's Red Army against the White Army, a loose alliance of anti-Bolshevik forces. Lenin formed a five-member Politburo that included Stalin and Trotsky. In May 1918, Lenin dispatched Stalin to the city of Tsaritsyn. Through his new allies, Kliment Voroshilov and Semyon Budyonny, Stalin imposed his influence on the military. Stalin challenged many of the decisions of Trotsky, ordered the killings of former Tsarist officers in the Red Army and counter-revolutionaries and burned villages in order to intimidate the peasantry into submission and discourage bandit raids on food shipments. In May 1919, in order to stem mass desertions on the Western front, Stalin had deserters and renegades publicly executed as traitors. There is a sketch of this work in the Ferris collection at USC university.
Accession Number: 2009.053.108
Item Name: Painting
Credit Line: The Ferris Russian Collection, Donated by Tom and Jeri Ferris
Collection/Series: The Ferris Russian Collection, Donated by Tom and Jeri Ferris