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Artist
Danila Vassilieff
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Born
1897
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Died
1958
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Title
Unknown political prisoner II
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Date of Production
1952–1953
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Medium
lilydale limestone
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Dimensions
253 x 511 x 148 mm
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Credit Details
Purchased with assistance from the L. J. Wilson Bequest Fund and the Caltex Victorian Government Art Fund, 1981, © National Gallery of Victoria
Danila Vassilieff
Unknown political prisoner II
A self taught artist and pioneer of expressionist painting in
Australia, Danila Vassilieff was by birth a member of the White
Russian aristocracy. He worked his way to Australia via the
Middle East, and then to other parts of the world, including South
America and Spain, before returning to Australia in 1936. A
sculptor as well as a painter, Vassilieff began to work in stone in
1949 after building 'Stonygrad', a stone and log cabin at
Warrandyte whose name was a humorous reference to the country of
his birth.
On hearing about the International Sculpture Competition based
on the theme of the Unknown Political Prisoner, Vassililieff drew
on his earlier works to produce a maquette in Australian marble
featuring a double sided figure with a haunted appearance that was
male on one side and female on the other raising its fist in a
defiant gesture.
This competition also inspired two further marble carvings on
the same theme of the Unknown Political Prisoner, one in Italian
marble and the other in lilydale limestone that is even more
difficult to work because of its hardness. It is the latter,
with its mottled surface highlighted by polishing and its boldly
articulated body that captures the strength of the human spirit,
that is now part of the Gallery's collection.