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Oleg Prusov's
Paints

69. Piccolo bambino (Loneliness together), 1992

Chapter: Pictures

Linen, oil, 700x1000 mm


The work of Piccolo bambino, according to many art critics, is one of the best works of Oleg Prusov, although for the viewer in many ways the plot is quite simple, clear and concise.

In relationships between people, very often some love more than the second, letting their second half simply be nearby.

This is humility and the whole burden of responsibility assigned in this case to the satellite, and is illustrated by the artist. Hence the pose: on his knees, and folded arms with his head bowed, and a line that laid a heavy, possibly exorbitant weight on his shoulders. And only a turn from his companion to the other side speaks of fatigue and the ultimate state of "... before breaking" of our hero.

An interesting detail: The prototype of the painting “Loneliness Together” was the song of Alexander Vertinsky Piccolo Bambino (“Little Boy”), written in Paris in 1933:

Night was falling.
The blizzard was singing.
Magdalene was buried,
The circus ballerina.
She saw off two friends.
Two friends-acrobats.
It was a clown. A crying clown.
He covers his face with a glove.

He was a friend of Magdalene.
Just a friend, not a man,
He cleans her tights with gasoline.
And laughing, Magdalene said:
"Well, are you a man?
You're queer, and you smell like a dog!"
Poor Piccolo Bambino

It's getting dark. City wilted.
In the dark twilight shadow.
Clown raised the collar,
And falling to his knees
Suddenly howled in animal longing.

The snow was cleaner at the cemetery,
In this blue city.
Here is buried Magdalene,
The circus ballerina.
And gone from death again.

He loved. He was a man,
He did not even know the smell of roses
From the cold smell of a dog.
Poor Piccolo Bambino

Alexander Vertinsky, 1933.
Translation from russian.