[TotTM] Pictures at an Exhibition 2/5
Menshevik
140
Heroes and Villains? (1991-1992)
A rare collage work by Piotr Rasputin, this triptych shows three men who
were making headlines in mutant rights politics in the early 1990s. The
original impulse came from the debates between Senator Robert Kelly and
Professor Charles Xavier, which were widely reported in the media.
Originally conceived as a diptych, the work was expanded into a set of
three pictures as a reaction to the impact of Magneto's ultimatum to the
world's leaders. The portraits of Senator Kelly, Professor Xavier and
Magneto are made up of cuttings from newspapers and magazines, with
differences in thickness of the layers large enough to achieve a relief
effect. The three subjects are portrayed as masks with holes for eyes,
reflecting the artist's view that the media only present a superficial
picture of the issues and the people who represented them. If you look
closely, you see that Piotr Rasputin made no difference between state-
controlled and free media, including clippings of pre-Glasnost articles
from Pravda and Izvestiya about Professor Xavier, the X-Men and Magneto as
well as some from Western papers. For the Soviet articles, the artist had
to use photocopies and printouts from microfilms as the public libraries
who archive the newspapers obviously would not allow him to cut out the
articles. The mask of Senator Kelly comes equipped with a 'wig' made of
thinly-cut strips of paper, while Magneto's mask is actually just a
rendition of his empty helmet -- at the time Magneto was still very much an
enigma to the artist and his friends.
150
Jack London (1991)
During his second year as an X-Man, Piotr Rasputin decided to do a series
of prints to exercise and diversify his proficiency in various techniques.
As a common subject, he used 'famous artists', asking his teammates to
choose someone from the performing or creative arts they admired.
Wolverine's request for a portrait of the writer of The Call of the Wild
and other famous stories came easy to Piotr Rasputin as London was one of
the most popular American writers in the Soviet Union. Note the tiny wolf's
head worked into the shadow under the author's left ear. The template for
this woodcut was a photograph from the jacket of a copy of a collection of
short stories Piotr had read in school. This preliminary print is shows the
state before the artist redid the eyebrows. The final version also was
printed with a darker red dye. For the artist's recollections of making
this series, please press 159.
152
Alexandra (1992)
This cold-needle engraving was done for Kurt Wagner. Unable to make up his
mind whether to choose Errol Flynn or Burt Lancaster, Nightcrawler finally
went for someone different entirely, the singer/songwriter who died at age
25 in a mysterious car accident in 1969 and became a legend in Germany. The
plate for this print, like the others was lost when the Mansion was heavily
damaged in 1993. For the artist's recollections of making this and the
other prints of the series, please select 159.
159
Piotr Rasputin: "It was fun to make the 'Legends' prints -- the others
would visit me in my workshop, we would listen to music together while I
worked, that sort of thing. In some cases it obviously was music by the
artists concerned. Alexandra, who had the same name as my mother, and sang
a lot of Russian songs or songs with Russian themes had a deep, soulful
voice that I really grew to like. Unfortunately Kurt later had to buy the
records all over again after the original ones vanished into another
dimension from Excalibur's lighthouse. Katya, for whom I did a silk-screen
of Nijinsky, would be all over the room, demonstrating entrechats, of
course that was when we still... uh, thought we were in love. My only
mistake was to ask Illyana for an artist to draw -- she chose Jon Knight,
and so I had to listen to New Kids On the Block and watch their videos for
what seemed like weeks. Listening to Miriam Makeba with Storm and to the
Professor's Toscanini LPs was a lot more enjoyable. Curiously, Logan and I
were the only ones who selected writers -- I had Pushkin and he gave me a
choice of Frederick Philip Grove or Jack London, and, well, I knew London."
164
Katya Practicing (3rd - 7th February, 1992)
Katherine Pryde joined the X-Men in the fall of 1991, and for a time she
and Piotr Rasputin were inseparable. Her activities as the superhero
Shadowcat soon interfered with her passion for ballet, ultimately forcing
her to say good-bye to her childhood dreams of a dancing career. In spite
of this, she continued to practice; this series of five pencil and charcoal
sketches depicts the youngest X-Man rehearsing a solo routine at Stevie
Hunter's ballet studio in Salem Center. The artist's growing confidence in
his craft becomes evident if you look closely: With each successive sketch
there is less and less use of pencil and eraser.
165
Katya, Illyana and Another (1992)
Katherine Pryde and the artist's sister Illyana Rasputina were roommates at
the Xavier School residence for well over a year. This pastel double
portrait shows them in their room, together with their companion, Lockheed
the dragon. A few months before this picture was painted, Illyana Rasputina
had been abducted to another dimension and because of temporal anomalies
aged several years before she returned a few seconds later. She joined the
New Mutants under the code name Magik (Russian for 'mage') and later served
with the X-Men, Avengers and Excalibur. This painting later was presented
by Piotr Rasputin to Dame Katherine's mother, Ms. Teri Lieberman, who
kindly provided it for Breakstone LAKE Baikal.
170
Happy 1st Anniversary, Rogue! (1993)
As a former enemy, Rogue was not welcomed with open arms when she joined
the roster in 1992. However, she eventually won her new teammates' trust
and friendship, and in 1993 the X-Men held a surprise party in honor of her
first team anniversary. For that occasion, Piotr Rasputin created this
banner with a picture of Rogue surrounded by the then active members of the
X-Men and New Mutants. By selecting 172, you can listen to some
explanations and comments by the artist.
Not all that long after the celebration, a number of X-Men, including Piotr
Rasputin, were gravely injured in the so-called New York Tunnel Massacre.
Because the Mansion at that point no longer could be considered safe, the
most gravely wounded were ferried across the Atlantic to the research
center on Muir Island off Northern Scotland. Rogue, who was put in charge
of that evacuation, took a few personal possessions with her on the flight.
The ones she left behind on Muir Island when she returned to America,
including this banner, were put into storage and forgotten, not to
resurface until 2021 during the ordering of the late Lady MacTaggert's
estate. They were then handed over to Rogue's surviving relatives, who then
put this picture on permanent loan to the X-Men Museum.
For a guide to the prominent features of this room, the former Day Room,
please select 171.
172
Piotr Rasputin: "Normally we would have wanted to celebrate her birthday,
but she didn't tell us when that was, and somehow none of us thought it
appropriate to ask her (also because it would have spoilt the surprise). It
probably was for the better, because we later learned that she didn't
really celebrate her birthday but what she considered her 'true birthday',
the anniversary of the day she first met her adoptive parents, Mystique and
Destiny. And we only learned about that because one day a cake for her
arrived by special delivery, and then she was so overcome with emotion she
locked herself in her room for half a day... In the end we decided to
throw, erm, hold a party when she completed her first year with us.
I drew her being tossed in the air in celebration by the X-Men and New
Mutants. The round blanket looks like a quiche -- that was an in-joke: When
Rogue first arrived at the Institute, I answered the door, and I had just
started making a quiche in the kitchen. Holding the rim, starting from the
top, and, er, going clockwise, you can see Kurt, Dani Moonstar, Phoenix,
'Berto Da Costa, Logan, Doug Ramsey, Magneto, Warlock, me, Sam, Ororo,
Illyana, Katya, and Amara. In the background there's the Professor (who at
the time was missing in outer space) and Scott with Madelyne and little
Nathan, who we then thought were safely in Anchorage. Magnus had joined us
shortly before. At the time he and Rogue did not really take a personal
interest in each other -- for them it definitely was not love at first
sight."