Lot Essay
Aleksandra Shchekotikhina-Pototskaia is one of the main artists known for her compositions on porcelain at the Porcelain State Factory which she joined at the end of 1918. From 1908 to 1915 she studied in the Drawing School of the Association for the Encouragement of the Arts in St. Petersburg under N. Rerikh and I. Bilibin. Between 1912 and 1920 she designed sets and theatrical costumes for Diaghilev's 1913 production of the Stravinsky ballet 'The Rite of Spring' and Borodin's opera 'Prince Igor', in 1920/21 she created her most famous compositions: The Bellringer and The Commissar.
Transmitting, through her work, the spirit of this new period which was to create a new state, she found a way, at variance with other artists of the time, to join the values of pre-revolution Russia with those of the new Communist State. In this design, dedicated to the 8th Congress of Soviets, she draws bells, echoing the church values fought by the new regime. At the same time, she included typically Russian folk art in the colourful shirt of The Bellringer and the stylised architecture which surrounds the composition. She did the same for The Commissar illustrating a chekist in vivid colours against a background, indicative of the Tsarist period, with the Winter Palace and the Alexander Column.
Transmitting, through her work, the spirit of this new period which was to create a new state, she found a way, at variance with other artists of the time, to join the values of pre-revolution Russia with those of the new Communist State. In this design, dedicated to the 8th Congress of Soviets, she draws bells, echoing the church values fought by the new regime. At the same time, she included typically Russian folk art in the colourful shirt of The Bellringer and the stylised architecture which surrounds the composition. She did the same for The Commissar illustrating a chekist in vivid colours against a background, indicative of the Tsarist period, with the Winter Palace and the Alexander Column.