1947
Mediums: glass.
Location: The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (Russia).
The attention of monumentalist Mukhina to vases, glasses and decorative glassware is not accidental – she said that she was in search of “the unity between small and large things”, thinking about everyday aesthetics after the war. The dream of her youth (she admired the stained-glass windows of the Parisian church of Sainte Chapelle, works of the glass-blowers of Murano) came true: she made her early works in art glass. The figure of the ballerina, almost shrunk into a lump, amazes the viewer with its plasticity and special melodiousness of the lines. Her knees are slightly raised, her legs crossed, arms extended, her back gently curved and her head bowed — the recognizable final pose of the ballet “White Swan”. Made of glass, she became even more musical, graceful, acquired particular perfection.