Nikolai Kummits

Only a few artists, including Nikolai Kummits, introduced a change into the art of the 1930ies. They started to take interest in the darker side of everyday life and did not romanticize poverty too much. They accomplished works that were actually not so very pessimistic or gloomy, but instead they were compassionate and honest. The scene is depicting a grimy sauna, where mothers and children must wash themselves in tight conditions. The glance at them is not condemning or pitying, but seems to be depicting the simple life that they lived. Here can even be detected some ethnographic interest to which Kummits adds an artistic dimension with strong shadows.