M. K. Anikushin. Victorious Warrior

This small bronze figure of a seated soldier was cast in 1973 from a 1947 model, Mikhail Anikushin's graduation work. The soldier, a submachine gun across his knees, has only just sat down to rest: his torso is turned, his head sharply turned aside, his hand gripping the weapon. The face is youthful and resolute, and the image is at once a portrait and a collective one.

Anikushin said the theme took shape during the war: he wanted to convey the youthful firmness of a soldier's character. From November 1941 the sculptor served as a medical orderly on the Leningrad Front, then on the 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts, and in 1945 on the Transbaikal Front. Returning to Leningrad in 1946, he made three sketches of soldiers' figures and chose the single-figure composition with a seated soldier for his diploma. On 22 June 1947 the work was presented to the examining board under the title "Victorious Warrior".

Mikhail Konstantinovich Anikushin (1917–1997) later created the monument to Alexander Pushkin on Arts Square in Leningrad (1957) and the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad (1975). This cast was made in Leningrad and measures 31 × 16.5 × 14.2 cm.