As fate would have it, two 20th-century sculptors, Sergey Timofeyevich Konenkov and Alexander Nikolayevich Burganov, happened to be neighbors. Until 1923, Konenkov had a workshop in Maly Afanasyevsky Lane where he created many notable works inspired by classical art and the Bible. Alexander Burganov has had a workshop in Bolshoy Afanasyevsky Lane for almost half a century — since the late 1970s. The two sculptors met only in the late 1960s. Eventually, Alexander Burganov created a portrait of Sergey Konenkov.
Having the privilege of being personally acquainted with Sergey Konenkov, Alexander Burganov managed to capture the distinctive features, piercing gaze, and rapid movements of his fellow sculptor who was almost 90 years old at the time.
Alexander Burganov described his encounters with the sculptor,
