Gostiny Dvor 1921

Editor: This is "Gostiny Dvor," a pen and ink drawing created in 1921 by Boris Kustodiev. It feels really busy, almost chaotic, but also kind of dreamlike with the sketchy lines and the strange combination of imagery. What do you see in this piece, from a more formal perspective? Curator: Precisely that sense of "busyness" which arises, I think, from the incredible density of line. Note how Kustodiev employs hatching and cross-hatching, not to render volume necessarily, but to create a surface tension. Consider how this all-over mark-making serves to flatten the perspectival recession we might otherwise expect in a cityscape. Are we truly drawn *into* the Gostiny Dvor, or kept *on the surface* of the image? Editor: That's interesting. It does feel like I'm looking at a wall of imagery, not necessarily stepping into a real space. Does the flatness emphasize the different planes? Curator: Yes. Note the interplay between the architectural frame, the signage, and the figures populating the scene. Kustodiev creates separate picture planes within the whole, which destabilizes any coherent spatial reading. The high vantage point also compresses space. The effect isn't depth, but a dense tapestry of urban life rendered as a graphic composition. Do you notice other areas in which this happens? Editor: I see it near the top, how the painting or mural of the landscape flattens against the image of the icon. That is echoed throughout the piece. Curator: Exactly. So while a traditional reading might look for depth and realism, here the power resides in the denial of those very qualities, favoring instead a constructed and consciously artificial rendering of the world. Editor: I see it now. Instead of trying to capture reality, the artist seems to be building an image from pieces. It's less about the place itself, and more about Kustodiev's graphic sensibility and technique. Curator: Precisely. And through the work’s meticulous application of form, the picture constructs meaning through and via those applications, challenging any easy connection to reality.