Scene 4 (plate, folio 15) from The Dream of Abu-Said and Wind
Ilya Kabakov
American, born Russia. 1933–2023
1957-1990
A small color linocut with pencil additions by Ilya Kabakov that stages a single, stylized nude beneath a lamp dripping a single blue teardrop—a quietly absurd, poetic fragment meant to suggest a larger narrative moment.
Seeing it feels like finding a private illustration: a flat, reserved figure with crossed arms stands directly under a lone lamp that sheds one blue drop, its stillness and naive drawing amplified by the wide neutral surround and the artist’s handwritten inscriptions.
Part of Kabakov’s illustrated-book practice, this piece turns modest, folk‑like imagery and text into a narrative device that anticipates his later conceptual installations and his sustained exploration of individual experience under Soviet and post‑Soviet conditions.
Medium
Linoleum cut, printed in color, with blue and black pencil additions
Dimensions
irreg. composition 7 x 3 3/4" (17.8 x 9.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Emilia Kanevsky and the artist
Accession
289.1991.4
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
