View in Tula, a sketch for E. Zamyatin's play, 'The Flea' 1924

Boris Kustodiev’s sketch for E. Zamyatin's play, 'The Flea', seems to have emerged from a place of pure imagination, painted with a naïve, joyful hand. I can imagine Kustodiev standing before the canvas, the image of Tula unfolding stroke by stroke, each colour a decision, an intuition, a leap of faith. The deep blues and reds vibrate with the crisp whites of the snow, all applied with a boldness that I find so appealing. Look at the steam rising from the samovar, painted with soft, cloud-like daubs. You can almost feel the warmth in the frozen setting. I like the overall feeling that this sketch is about a celebratory and joyful scene with music, food, and drink. It feels like a very Russian, very theatrical event. The materiality of the paint itself, thick in some places, thin in others, creates a visual and tactile experience that really draws me in. I wonder if Kustodiev was thinking of other stage designers like Alexandra Exter, when making this work. I find myself thinking about the conversations happening between artists across different disciplines and through time. This sketch becomes a moment in an ongoing exchange, where each artist is both student and teacher, constantly reinterpreting and reinventing the possibilities of art.