Curatorial Narrative In 1920, the year of its creation, “Labor Will Be the Masters of the World” exemplified the ascetic, modernist ethos of Soviet Constructivism. The anonymous artist’s linear brushwork and spare palette characterized by a monochromatic range that oscillates between deep reds and stark blacks imbue the still life composition with an air of stilted, mechanistic precision. This visual grammar was meant to convey the ideals of industrial collectivization and the rejection of ornamentation, yet it also belies a sense of contained energy, as if the rigid forms were poised on the cusp of movement. When enlarged to 44×66, the palette’s chromatic structure is revealed in stark relief. The dark reds and blacks assume an almost three-dimensional quality, while the white voids seem to deepen into abyssal space. As a result, the artwork assumes a commanding presence within a luxury interior environment, its spatial rhythm