Eight bronze figures with none of the usual wings or halos — the most valuable single piece in the foundation's collection.
"Angels of Death" is a group of eight bronze figures, and not one of them resembles the familiar image of a guardian angel. Gaunt, angular bodies with disproportionately elongated heads and empty eye sockets — this is the recognizable hand of the mature Shemyakin, developed in emigration. The series was cast in 1993, when the artist had lived in New York for twelve years, and it became one of the most complete statements of a theme running through all of his work: death and metamorphosis as part of the carnival, not its opposite.
The patina varies from figure to figure — from nearly black to dark green with copper flecks — so that each sculpture reads as its own character rather than a multiple cast from a single mold. That is what links the series to Shemyakin's early Petersburg work: for him, an object rarely stays merely an object, it almost always functions as a sign. Within the foundation's collection, "Angels of Death" is the single most valuable item: each of the eight figures is valued at 1,691,000 ₽.
