SOVIET SKETCHES

Exhibit Reveals Stalin's Subconscious

A newly revealed collection from Joseph Stalin's security service shows that the former Soviet leader had a penchant for sketching nudes and annotating them with irreverent comments. Among Stalin's subjects were Karl Radek, former head of the Comintern, and Georgy Plekhanov, the Marxist theorist, who Stalin calls a "[c]oward and enemy of the people." Until being made public, the collection had been kept by Stalin's family members, associates, and guards. Organizers of the exhibit attest to the drawings' authenticity, saying that the pieces have been signed by Stalin and examined by an expert. The prints were estimated to have been made around the time Stalin was 70 years old. For an peek inside the communist leader's psyche, stop by the Marat Guelman gallery in central Moscow.