A. Ivanova, M. Lezviiev. Head of a Female Labourer at the Construction Site of the Pedagogical Institute in Nalchyk

On the back of the photograph is an inscription in russian, written in purple ballpoint pen: "Ivanova A.M. Head of a Female Labourer at the Construction Site of the Pedagogical Institute in Nalchyk. Kabardino-Balkaria. 1937". The painting, made on a prepared base, depicts a participant in the process of building an important educational institution for Nalchyk – the Pedagogical Institute, which still exists today (in the late 1950s, it was reorganised into the Kabardino-Balkarian State University, now the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh. M. Berbekov). Initially, it was the Pedagogical Workers' Faculty at the Lenin Educational Campus, which was reorganised over time. In fact, based on an appeal from the local regional committee of the Communist Party, the Pedagogical Institute was founded in 1932. Here, the artist couple Mykhailo Lezviiev and Antonina Ivanova came to work in 1934 (for more details, see Khorunzha, H., & Maksymiv, M. (2022). Boychukist Mykhailo Lezviiev: Unknown heritage (Works from the collection and archive of Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery). Obrazotvorche Mystetsvo [Fine Arts], 3–4, 94–98. Kyiv). The execution of the artworks, as we have established, involved constant collaboration, and therefore, it is quite difficult to single out the sole authorship of some of the works. In particular, based on the analysis of the stylistics and formal features of the murals in the photographs, where the authorship of Mykhailo Lezviiev is declared, we can assume that in the case of "Head of a Female Labourer," there was also collaboration (for details: Khorunzha, H., & Maksymiv, M. (2023). Boychukist Mykhailo Lezviiev: Unknown heritage (Works from the collection and archive of Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery). Obrazotvorche Mystetsvo [Fine Arts], 1–2, 82–85. Kyiv).

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery