Alexander Labas. Fireworks Salute over the Moskva River

Alexander Labas depicted a celebratory salute over the Moskva River in 1944. The tradition of such salutes in Moscow was started by the artillery salute of 5 August 1943 in honour of the capture of Orel and Belgorod by Soviet troops. Throughout the war, salutes in the capital were fired by the 52nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division.

According to the online collection of the Museum of Moscow, the work belongs to the series "Moscow and the Moscow Region in the Days of the War". Labas executed it in watercolour on paper, also using scratching.

Alexander Labas (1900–1983) was born in Smolensk and lived and worked in Moscow. He was one of the founding members of the Society of Easel Painters (OST), which existed in 1925–1932.