Russian hills

Massive rock formations with human eyes and cracked, mask-like faces arch over a tight cluster of women and girls in traditional headscarves and folk dress, arms raised, mouths open as if crying out. A pale nude figure reaches upward at the left edge, while wings and a small house wreathed in flowers appear at the bottom of the sheet.

Executed almost entirely in graphite with touches of oil, the drawing builds volume through dense hatching and cross-hatching, keeping the palette to grays, whites and near-black shadow. Light falls in scattered pale patches across the towering stone faces, heightening the sense of an oppressive, dreamlike threat pressing down on the frightened crowd below.