The Former Ersatz Landowner

About this artwork

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Sergei N. Kostin

Title

The Former Ersatz Landowner

Place

Soviet Union (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Original 1944

Medium

Stencil

Inscriptions

Along the Berlin streets There wanders every day A Ukrainian landowner With outstretched hand. From his former grandeur Nothing now remains But a feather in his hat – And nothing more. Next to him, despondent, There wanders his wife. “Mein Gott! What's happened to us?” She says with melancholy. Hitler gave us a gift An estate near Poltava, In the shade of an old oak grove And with lions at the entrance! My husband and I, we drove around In a carriage like noble counts And in our possession, We had two hundred peasant souls! We were very pleased To have serfs of our own. But all of them joined the ranks Of the Soviet partisans. Everything ended terribly! On one silent night We had to run away From the army of the Reds! We ran through all the puddles Now trotting, now at a gallop. And my husband and I, We lost our last wardrobe. All that remains from our estate Is this here bicycle… Have pity on us! Give us money for a meal.

Dimensions

201.6 × 83.4 cm (79 3/8 × 32 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the USSR Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries

Reference Number

2010.86

Extended information about this artwork

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