The Bolshevik

When the giant man flying the flag signifying the Soviet revolution strides forth, he is a force to be reckoned with, as the people surrounding him surge forward with the spirit of revolution. The man is everyman and no man at the same time, he is the spirit of revolution personified by the artist Boris Kustodiev. This is a stark contrast to many of his other paintings that portray scenes from his childhood and folk fantasy style paintings that are vivid and full of childlike wonder. This painting however, deviates from those themes and that visual style. The biggest burst of colour in the painting is the large red banner that the colossal man of the revolution holds while striding forth with a gaze steadily fixed on the horizon and the people swarm around him like ants. The Bolshevik Revolution saw to the Sovietization of Russia which meant that the ideology was based on Marxist-Leninist understanding of modernization and industrialization which affected the norms of social, economic and political behaviour. The imposing figure is portrayed as a liberator, as was the popular consensus of the Bolsheviks at that time. However, to the modern viewer he may look like a destructive force. That is what is interesting about the composition, the man's gigantic scale puts him in a juxtaposition between a harbinger of progress and a domineering force. It is clear that the artist sees the potential for progress and the fact that it is a pivotal moment in history but, the tension in the atmosphere between hope and fear is not lost here.