Large format: the image measures 26 ½" x 14 ½", total size is 31" x 19 ¾". The lone figure of a worker is completely dwarfed by the huge machinery rumbling through its unstoppable toil in the dead of the night. Even though the man is in the only brightly lit spot, he is not the focal point of this artwork. The mammoth scale of the industry around the man is the hero of this piece of art. The inscription in the artist's hand in the lower left-hand corner under the image reads "In the quarry. Night shift. Linotype." His hand signature and year is in the opposite corner under hi

Large format: the image measures 26 ½" x 14 ½", total size is 31" x 19 ¾". The lone figure of a worker is completely dwarfed by the huge machinery rumbling through its unstoppable toil in the dead of the night. Even though the man is in the only brightly lit spot, he is not the focal point of this artwork. The mammoth scale of the industry around the man is the hero of this piece of art. The inscription in the artist's hand in the lower left-hand corner under the image reads "In the quarry. Night shift. Linotype." His hand signature and year is in the opposite corner under his initials and year incorporated into the linotype. The inscription on the verso was made by an employee of the Sverdlovsk Regional Artists' Fund when registering the linotype in their inventory. It reads "Novichenko V.A. Price 300 rubles, SRAF, inventory #124-G."

The linotype is in excellent condition. The image is pristine; the margins are very clean and show barely any wear.

Novichenko was among the first to turn upside down the old ideologically worn-out approach of Socialist Realism to the theme of labor heroes where the hero's portrait dominated his tools of labor and the entire environment. Here we see exactly the opposite.

Valentin Novichenko (Валентин Алексеевич Новиченко, 1927-2010) was a well-known master of graphic arts from the Urals. He was born into a working-class family. His childhood impressions of industry and the construction of the Orsk Metallurgical Combine (group of factories) deeply affected his art.

He participated in the Patriotic War and then graduated from the Sverdlovsk School of Arts, which he attended from 1956 to 1961. In 1966 he became a member of the Trade Union of Artists of the USSR and a permanent participant of all-Union exhibitions. From 1953 to 1963 he worked as a decorator at the Uralkhimmash and Uralmash, both of which were gigantic powerhouses of Soviet industry that played an extremely important role in the development of the industrial might of the Soviet Union as well as its defense during the Great Patriotic War. They also played a major role in the development of the city of Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) and the entire Urals Region.

After the death of the artist in 2010, a number of his exhibitions opened in his native Urals and in Moscow, and well-known collectors are now trying to acquire his works. As is evident from his correspondence with colleagues that is now kept in a private collection, Novichenko had a difficult personality. He never tried to sell his works to collectors or earn favors from the bureaucrats managing arts; he also refused to sell his paintings to the managing committees of exhibitions on their terms. He was a tireless innovator, always in search of new materials and techniques, and this consumed his entire life. His lithographs on metal or so-called "poly-etching graphics" that employed various techniques and metal cutting instruments invented by him, make his art truly unique and of enduring value.

Please note that the 1-ft. ruler in our photo is for size reference.
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