Still Life. Scales. 1916

Curator: Looking at Pyotr Konchalovsky’s “Still Life. Scales.” from 1916, painted with oil on canvas, what are your immediate thoughts? Editor: It feels a bit claustrophobic, doesn't it? All these objects crammed onto a single plane. There’s a real sense of domestic intimacy here, but also of something slightly oppressive. Curator: Absolutely. The intimacy stems from the iconography of everyday bourgeois life: the books representing knowledge, the scales perhaps justice or balance, the chessboard gamesmanship... Editor: ...and social positioning, absolutely. I wonder what prompted him to include the scales specifically during 1916. War raging across Europe, Tsarist Russia teetering… was Konchalovsky hinting at a world dangerously off-balance? Was this piece politically charged? Curator: It's possible. In terms of artistic currents, though, the flattening of the picture plane and use of geometric forms does show an influence from the Russian avant-garde movement during that period, certainly. However, Konchalovsky retained a grounding in Realism. Editor: That's right, and I see how the influence manifests. Those slightly warped perspective, the visible brushstrokes… it’s a fascinating tension. Curator: It is, especially as those everyday objects, like the candlestick, possess weight beyond their simple function. They gain metaphorical meaning due to their composition. I perceive this painting as a visual inventory of bourgeois stability at a point of imminent fracture. The choice of the scales underscores this uncertainty, the need to balance or weigh impending consequences. Editor: That makes perfect sense when one sees it in the wider framework of the time. Thanks for guiding us. Curator: Thank you. This painting feels surprisingly potent after delving into its possible contexts.