Yuri Pavlovich Annenkov

Collage was for Annenkov a way to incorporate a sense of three-dimensionality into his work. Although mostly dated between 1917 and 1924 compositions made in this format retain a sense of the avant-garde regardless of when in the artist’s life they were created. The main appeal of the medium to Annenkov was the ability to create numerous layers on which to build. In some cases the layers chosen evoke moments from the artist's biography. In this work the layers likely reflect Annenkov's youth in the rural Finnish countryside of Kuokkala on the shores of the Gulf of Finland.