Slaughterhouse (Russian: Бойня) is a painting by the Russian, Soviet and American artist Nicolai Fechin. Art historians believe that the canvas was created in Kazan and that work on it began in 1904, but they differ on when Fechin stopped working (1916, the mid-1910s, 1919, or even the early 1920s). The painting belongs to the collection of the State Art Museum of Tatarstan in Kazan and is exhibited in the permanent exhibition of the Nicolai Fechin Hall of the Khazine National Art Gallery.
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Slaughterhouse is a rare genre painting in Fechin's oeuvre. It is one of only four of his large-scale works. Art historians identify him and his father in the figures on the canvas, and the canvas itself is associated not only with the young Fechin's expedition to the Yenisey Range, but also with the bloody events of the First World War or the Russian Civil War, which coincided with his maturity. Researchers are analyzing in detail Fechin's composition, color solution and painting technique.
From the art historians' point of view, the process of Fechin's work on the painting Slaughterhouse was interesting: he created three-dimensional images of animals and butchers as models – sketches for the painting; the few surviving sketches for it are abstract compositions – "a whirlwind of strokes and lines that only remotely resemble real images".
Многочисленная группа мужчин в передниках, разделывающих туши животных. На полу мяса. На переднем плане, у лежащего в центре быка, двое наклонившихся мужчин с окровавленными руками: справа молодой, слева - пожилой, с бородой изображен в профиль вправо. На голове фуражка, левой рукой держит рог быка. Слева от них - двое мальчиков, стоящих друг против друга. Один надувает пузырь. Справа у подвешенной туши мяса, пожилой мужчина в 3/4 поворота влево с лысиной. Волосы рыжие, с бородой. /Стягивает с туши кожу. На фоне справа - часть бревенчатой стены с зарешеченным окном. Слева фон светлый.
