The timber industry has always formed the backbone of the Komi economy. A sawmill was one of the first industrial enterprises to be established in the region’s capital Syktyvkar. In 1926, it launched production, using two frame saws manufactured by “Kurhala”, a Finnish company. At the same time, the first power plant was built in Komi which supplied electricity to both Syktyvkar and other areas of the republic.

In 1936, a new mill was launched that had four frames, additional workshops, and a thermal power station. According to the pre-war industrial standards, it was an advanced enterprise that made Syktyvkar one of the largest timber suppliers both to the republic and foreign markets. The Syktyvkar Sawmill is still one of the three major enterprises in the region’s timber industry.

The artist Fyodor Vdovin was assigned to go to Syktyvkar in 1970, after graduating from the Yaroslavl Art College. He lived in Komi for over a decade. “A Typical Day at the Sawmill” was his first painting from the “Gold of the Republic” series. A year later, he painted “Industrial Landscape at the Sawmill”.

Vdovin’s works sparked interest and were displayed at All-Republican and All-Russian exhibitions “Soviet Russia” and “Youth of Russia”. His art is distinguished by a combination of landscapes and industrial scenes. Here, the artist designed perspective by using a high viewpoint and paid close attention to detail. His painstaking and meticulous approach creates a feeling of authenticity and credibility. With precise details, he achieved a true-to-life depiction of his time.

In this painting, Fyodor Vdovin depicted the sawmill’s lumber yard with stacks of logs ready for shipment, and tower cranes. The landscape and sky are shown in a slightly romanticized manner. Sawmill veterans commented that if someone looked at the scene from such a viewpoint, they would see an airfield in the background and not the curves of the Sysola River. The river was used to transport tree trunks to the sawmill using the rafting method.