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Alexander Lobanov - the artist of naive art movement - started to create his works during art-therapy in asylum. Mostly he works with the help of easily available graphic materials: colour pencils, pens and felt-pens. Abnormal obsession with make iconography of a grand portrait is felt in his works: Lobanov creates numerous self portraits, images of Soviet governors, heroes of war and revolution. The main motif is hunt and firearm. Scatterguns, rifles, trophies of the chase are depicted as ornamental motif, hunting is often the plot.
On the one side of the artwork Lobanov painted Stalin and a self portrait on the other. Both hold a fictional "Mosin double-barreled gun" (modified Mosin rifle, 1891), invented by the artist, in their hands – a frequent attribute in the artist's work, due to the fact that during the war the soldiers jokingly promised to give him a rifle. Considering the work, one can not fail to note the extreme detail: although in the drawing the hand of a self-taught artist is felt, all elements – from features to the smallest details of the uniforms – are executed with extraordinary thoroughness. The image of Stalin is placed in an oval frame, consisting of Soviet symbols – stars, sickle and hammer, weapons. Almost all works by the artist are accompanied with text: in the lower part the name and dates of the leader's life are displayed. Flags of the USSR are depicted around the frame in the upper corners, while the lower ones are occupied by laurel branches and anchors. Stalin is depicted almost frontal, his image is monumental and filled with sublime rigor. Such a portrait is worthy of the iconography of the leader. Lobanov portrays himself against the background of the forest as a simple soldier in a jacket and a cap. His figure is disproportionate and does not look as pompous as the portrait of Stalin. The frame in the form of a star has more laconic decor as well as other symbols: there are arrows with ready rifles in its corners – same ordinary soldiers, as well as the protagonist. V
