Sergei Mironovich Kirov (Kostrikov) (1886–1934): Communist Party functionary. Member of the Tomsk Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (1905–1907). Fought in Astrakhan during the Civil War (1919). First secretary of the Leningrad branch of the Communist Party (1926–1934). After Kirov’s death many Soviet artists turned to subjects connected with him. This political figure had enjoyed great authority in Leningrad during his lifetime, and after his mysterious death he acquired the traits of a mythological hero. Zverev painted state-commissioned portraits of Kirov numerous times. In this one the artist shows the wellknown statesman and Leningrad party leader as a charismatic yet down-to-earth human being, which contradicted the requirements of Socialist Realism.