Partisan Ballad is a painting by Belarusian artist Mai Dantsig showing a partisan woman breastfeeding a weary partisan man during World War II. Both are equipped with rifles and ammunition belts. Dantsig borrowed the Roman Charity theme, having seen the eponymous painting by Peter Paul Rubens in the Hermitage Museum.[1] Partisan Ballad alludes to the German occupation of the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front of World War II when Belarusian SSR became the haven of Soviet partisans.

Partisan Ballad
ArtistMai Dantsig
Year1969
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions300 cm × 300 cm (120 in × 120 in)
LocationPrivate collection (Art Russe)

The Partisan Ballad was at one time removed from the exhibition in the Minsk Palace of Arts when the local Soviet exhibition committee viewed the painting as an "incest".[1] Dantsig subsequently kept the painting in his workshop before exhibiting it again in the Central House of Artists in Moscow.[1] In 2015, Partisan Ballad was exhibited in the Saatchi Gallery in London.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Май Данциг: Искусство должно быть активным". Literaturnaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 10 Dec 2015.
  2. ^ Richard Moss (17 March 2015). "Ten artists exploring the legacy of World War Two in Russian Art". Culture24. Retrieved 10 Dec 2015.
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