Partner is an early example of a work featuring Bruskin’s recurring ‘hero’ – a Jewish man in a tallith with a covered head. As the artist recalls, ‘Looking back, I see two motives for my turn towards Jewish themes. First, protest: the desire to be not for, but against the State’s determination to abrogate my right to be a Jew. Second, an inner need for self-identification’ (Grisha Bruskin. Life is Everywhere, St Petersburg: Palace Editions, 2001, p.116).
Grisha Bruskin and Svetlana Bogatyr posing in front of the present lot
