Alternative Venice

Special themes were reworked in various media throughout his life. Of the Athos theme, for instance, Sokolov said in a television interview: “After finishing the silkscreen cycle I put the work to one side for a time and returned to it a year to eighteen months later <…>. And then there came to me – I made – a small series in dry point, not more than 15 or 16 engravings <…>, among which were the Three Monks I had sketched during All Night Vigil at the Panteleimon Monastery. In that second visit to the theme there was more generalisation than in the first variant which, essentially, was my immediate impression of Mt. Athos”. (interview about Athos “Ne stoit selo bez pravednika”)

The Death of Pierrot, Blok’s Puppet Booth and Goethe’s Faust were lifelong obsessions which he would characterise as “torrents”. Other “series” on recurring themes were loneliness, ladders and staircases, “waiting” (often at stations) and “signs” in abstracts and still life.