Two 12 by 16¼ inch mixed media on paper depictions of the satellite Sputnik, both mounted to approx 19 by 23 inch board. One with paper label reading "СПУТНИК ЛЕТИТ" affixed to board below image. 

"Sputnik Flies" Exhibited: выставка произведении Андрея Консманмновча Соколоваб 1959  [An Exhibition Catalogue of the Art of Andrei Sokolov, 1959]; "The First Ever" illustrated in: A Leonov/ A Sokolov К Звездам [To the Stars], 1970.

Two period works depicting the moment that became known as the "Shock of the Century." Andrei Sokolov is known as the premier Russian artist documenting space flight history. Born in Leningrad in 1931, Sokolov was originally trained as an architect and attended Moscow State University, where he developed an interest in science fiction. The flight of Sputnik had a profound effect on him, and he began to devote himself to the space genre because of the groundswell of public appeal of the nascent Soviet space age. He went on to become the chosen instrument of the USSR to graphically depict the Soviet space program - especially after forming a long lasting friendship with the Soviet national hero Alexei Leonov.  "Sputnik Flies!" was the first work listed in Sokolov's 1959 Solo Exhibition in Moscow.