* TITLE: "Foothills"* ARTISTS: Vasily Nikolayevich Maslov* SIZE: 79.5x100 cm/'31.29x39.37 inches' * MEDIUM: oil, canvas* HAND PAINTED: Original painting from a gallery collection* CONDITION: we tried to convey the maximum information with the help of photos about this product * This item was auctioned in Kiev auctionAbout the artist: Vasily Maslov was born in 1906 [K 1] in the village of Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha (now in the municipality of Alapaevskoye in the Sverdlovsk region). During the Civil War, he remained an orphan and began the life of a street child. Being a self-taught artist, for almost 10 years he traveled to different parts of the USSR, earning his living by painting portraits, designing newspapers, creating fonts [3].In 1925-1926 he studied at the 2nd year of the Higher State Art School in Baku, in 1926-1927 - at the 2nd year of the Nizhny Novgorod Art College [3].In 1927 he came to Moscow; on the recommendation of the People's Commissar of Education A. V. Lunacharsky entered the Workers' Faculty of Arts [3]. With the patronage of Maxim Gorky, he was sent to the Bolshevsk labor commune named after G. G. Berries [4], with which he was associated until his death; there he met his future wife, Muse Semeko. In the direction of the commune in 1929 he was enrolled in the labor department of VKhUTEIN; not having studied there for long, he returned to the commune and continued his studies in the art studio of the commune [3].In January 1933, he participated in the creation of an art studio in the labor commune under the leadership of V. Yakovlev and P. Shukhmin.July 19, 1937 [1] Vasily Maslov was arrested at the dacha of the head of the Bolshevsk labor commune Matvey Pogrebinsky [K 2], who had committed suicide shortly before. A case was opened against the artist on the basis of his “personal connection with the enemies of the people Bukharin, Yagoda, Pogrebinsky, Bulanov, Ostrovsky” and “terrorist sentiments”. Maslov was charged with the fact that "recently, with an unknown purpose, he has been observing how the comrades Stalin and Voroshilov are guarded." In December 1937, after several months of interrogation, Maslov was forced to sign a confession [4] [5].On December 30, 1937, on charges of counter-revolutionary activity, the Troika of the USSR NKVD in the Moscow Region was sentenced to capital punishment [3] [1]. On January 2, 1938, he was shot at the Butovo training ground [3] [1].October 23, 1955 rehabilitated [1] [6]: the case was dismissed due to lack of corpus delicti.