Carnivals of St Petersburg by Mikhail Shemyakin – Set of Bronze Figures

The carnival theme occupied Shemyakin for many years. By his own account it grew out of the festivities of Peter the Great's court – the jesting processions and the masquerades; among his sources he also named the commedia dell'arte with its Harlequin and Pulcinella, the Russian lubok print, Petrushka, the freaks of Peter's Kunstkamera and grotesque masks from various cultures. Dmitry Likhachev wrote about the same period in his essay "Mikhail Shemyakin and the Petersburg of Peter the Great", describing how Peter I raised the popular laughter culture of old Russia to the level of the state, with its assemblies and its jesters' council. Easel works from the series were shown in the exhibition "Mikhail Shemyakin. The Artist and the Theatre" at the St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music in 2017.

The bronzes of the cycle are edition sculpture with the artist's numbering, that is, original casts rather than printed reproductions. The shop of the Mikhail Shemyakin Foundation states that the artist's small-form bronze sculpture is produced in the United States in a limited edition. Other works by Shemyakin in the collection are gathered on the artist's page and in the selection devoted to this cycle, sculpture in the Sculpture section, the remaining lots in the general catalogue; the Auctions section explains how the online sales run. The collection holds 66 works by Mikhail Shemyakin in total; price range: from 360 to 20 000 $; 144 000 € (some works are priced in euro). To ask about the set, leave a request on the lot page: a specialist of the Don Foundation will reply about availability, payment and the handover of the works.