Boris Pasternak holds a portrait of Stalin together with its author, the artist Pavel Malkov, at the 1934 Congress of Soviet Writers
Igor Grabar, speaking on behalf of the artists attending the congress as guests, announced that the artists intended to present the congress with a portrait of Stalin. Boris Pasternak, a member of the congress presidium, who was sitting on the stage, took it upon himself to steady the portrait of the leader as it was brought out