Leonid Sokov

In good overall condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'It was in the 1930s that Stalin started building up the Soviet military complex. The country's best minds and talents were put to work on it. ... Take the tank turrets in whose design the square, triangle and diamond figure. If you replace the lid of Malevich's Teapot (1923) with a tank turret, you can see that the turret is an organic avatar of the teapot design.

It was as if in the 1930s avant garde artists moved on to military design labs to apply and realise the same ideas they had worked on in their paintings and graphic art in the 1920s. At that time in the Soviet Union, the aggressive art forms of the Russian avant garde were needed in the actual design of military weapons. Hence Tatlin's slogan: "Neither the new nor the old, but the necessary!"' (L.Sokov, 2010)