Victory battle 1914

Editor: Aristarkh Lentulov's "Victory Battle," painted in 1914 with oil paints, absolutely explodes off the canvas! The colors are so intense, almost clashing, and everything is broken down into these geometric shapes. I feel a sense of chaotic energy, maybe even a little…anxious? What do you see in this piece? Curator: Anxious is a fantastic starting point. I see that, too – a sense of unease humming beneath the bravado. For me, this painting feels like a dream of war, rather than a literal depiction. Lentulov's use of Cubist fragmentation makes it hard to get a clear grasp on what’s happening, doesn’t it? Almost like a memory fading and reforming. Consider the time: 1914. World War I. A "victory" might be more aspiration than reality. Editor: So, the fractured style mirrors the shattering of reality during wartime? I hadn't considered that! The colours seem to amplify the tension, too, rather than glorify some triumphant moment. Curator: Exactly! It’s like Lentulov’s cracked the world open and we're peering into its messy, complicated interior. Tell me, do you get a sense of the Russian Avant-Garde's spirit with its push for radical experimentation with form and colour in the early 20th century? Editor: Yes, the non-traditional perspective for such a traditionally patriotic theme seems typical of the Avant-Garde movement to break with conventions. I came here hoping for clarity, but, surprisingly, this is wonderfully complex. Curator: And sometimes, that's where the richest discoveries lie! Seeing how an artist transforms a subject, bends it, to reflect a deeper truth, beyond the surface is a really precious thing. I’ll think of “Victory Battle” now as an act of subversion as much as of commemoration, that maybe I need to examine further the complexity in celebratory artwork from this time.