Mihail Chemiakin Lithograph – Ventre de Paris Series

Mihail Chemiakin Lithograph – Ventre de Paris Series, E.A. Edition

This evocative lithograph by Mihail Chemiakin—another from his rare Ventre de Paris series—captures a surreal moment of labor, transformation, and ritual. Two robed figures, their bodies contorted in dramatic poses, lift a massive side of beef that morphs into a grotesque, theatrical form. A third, animal-like carcass figure stands upright at right, its spined surface echoing both the meat’s internal structure and a kind of haunting armor.

Rendered in earthy ochres and crimson tones with meticulously etched textures, the composition speaks to the duality of flesh and function, man and commodity. It is at once a commentary on the physicality of market labor and a metaphysical vision of France’s historical food capital. This work is signed in pencil by the artist and marked E.A. (épreuve d'artiste), denoting it as an artist’s proof from a limited edition—an important distinction for collectors.

This piece, like others in the Stomach of France cycle, explores the transformation of everyday butchers and food workers into symbols of cultural ritual and modern myth, inspired by the bustling, now-vanished Les Halles market of Paris.