Culver City,
California
x
Maker: Tanel, Anatoly M.
To Be or Not To Be?
Date Made: 1991
Country: Soviet Union
Method: Tempera paint on fiberboard
Measurements: 60 cm x 90 cm; 23 5/8 in x 35 7/16 in
The title of this artwork and the image of a skull are clear allusions to the opening line of Hamlet’s famous soliloquy. The ironic twist comes from the skull being modified with Soviet symbols of a hammer and sickle positioned in such a way to frame the image which also includes a reference to 1917, the year of the Bolshevik Revolution. “To Be Or Not To Be?” poses the question about the future of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, a period in which the existence of the Soviet Union was uncertain. Will it continue or will it finally disintegrate? If 1917 was the “to be” moment of the Soviet Union, the early 1990s was the “not to be” moment. The end of the Soviet Union is also suggested through the skull itself. In the play, Hamlet holds the skull as he comments on the inevitability of death. This may as well apply to the Soviet Union; the end is unavoidable and the old Soviet regime has reached its death.
Accession Number: 2009.053.110
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