Show all images on one page	#001834 Title: The Land of Plenty Artist: Molodkin Vladimir Size: 26x20.5x6 Size (inches): 10.25x8x2.25 Price : $1100 SOLD!

This remarkable organization of color, detail and thematic expression was composed by well known Mstera artist Vladimir Molodkin. This artist has always been at the very front of the creative movement in Mstera that is getting into blending regular everyday scenes with surreal ideas, such as imaginative landscapes and mythological characters. This inventiveness has rubbed off on his children Daniil and Denis, who are also top Mstera artists.
The work is called "The Land of Plenty", and shows labor of Russian peasantry. The peasants do different work. They pasture cows, sow the grain, mow off wheat, and gather hay. Some of them rest like the happy loving couple running in the middle of the composition, or the man playing the accordion in the right bottom corner. In the left and right parts of the composition, as well as in the right upper corner of the composition the artist depicts Christian saints who patronize peace labor of peasants. In the left part he paints St. Gabriel; in the right part he draws St. Nicholas; and in the right upper corner of the composition the artist depicts Prophet Elias who rides the chariot and waters fields and meadows from the height of heavens. In the left part of the composition we can also see the hermit who live in solitude and pray for happiness of all people in the world.
The palette is filled with pastels that can show the warmth of summer. Yellow, blue and brown tones dominate here. Molodkin uses gold paint in subtle amounts to enhance the detailing in the clothing, landscape, and add some flair to the scene. This only works to make the already great depth, compositional flow, and colors that much more aesthetic in the overall distribution of visual brilliance in the scene.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while dark red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The portion of the lid which contains the composition is slightly raised above the outermost edge of the lid. This aides in increasing the beauty of the decoration. A lovely golden filigree pattern is applied to this lower edge as the framing. The flowered golden filigree pattern wraps around the sides of the box. The lid is hinged from the top of the composition, and the box rests on four feet. The artist wrote his name, the title and the village name of Mstera on the front side of the box using gold metal paint, and blue and red tempera paints.