Pair of Harlequins

Technique: Lithograph.
Size: 74 × 51 cm.

This pair of harlequins belongs to the carnival imagery that runs through the art of Mikhail Shemyakin (Chemiakin). Descending from the commedia dell'arte, the harlequin is bound up in his work with a whole universe of jesters, masks and street performers that he developed over decades. The figures are treated in his characteristic grotesque, metaphysical manner, in keeping with the "metaphysical synthetism" he conceived. Lithography is one of the principal techniques of his graphic work.