Brodsky I. I.
“Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (Russia) – delegate of the Second Congress of the Communist International”. Drawing from nature
RSFSR, Moscow. 1920.
Paper, pencil
51, 1×35, 5 cm

The Second Congress of the Communist International was held from July 19 to August 7, 1920, first in Petrograd and then in Moscow. In preparation for the creation of a monumental painting, I. Brodsky attended all of its meetings, created more than a hundred sketches some of which were made already at the III Congress in 1921. He had to work in difficult conditions: on a train between two capitals, in hotels in the early morning and late evening. Some delegates came to Russia illegally and posed reluctantly, sometimes they had to be sketched secretly.
The painting was finished in 1924. The artist captured more than 600 people on the monumental canvas.