Painting graphics poster in the service of the new government. General characteristics and periodization of Soviet art
The revolution of 1917 began a completely new stage in Russian painting, which was expressed both in the development of its new forms and in the comprehension of new, hitherto unseen events in Russia.
It can be confidently noted that the revolutionary events of this landmark year for our country laid the foundation for a unique cultural revolution, which, by the way, had no analogues in the world at that time. The content of this phenomenon also cannot have any unambiguous characteristics.
Since the October Revolution, Russian painting has found itself in a situation where:
- The idea of the partisanship of any art was realized everywhere, i.e. the existing and even partially idealized principle of freedom of creativity was excluded. Which eventually came down to the active politicization of the entire cultural sphere, and especially art and literature.
- There was an active "cultural enlightenment" of all, including the illiterate sections of the citizens of the former empire, and their familiarization with the national achievements of art.
Russian Artists and the Revolution - New Organizations, New Tasks
October 1917 basically drastically changed the position and nature of the work of the masters, whose artistic life and manner had already taken shape. It should be noted that the revolution, first of all, appealed to the work of young artists, which is natural. However, the numerous and diverse platforms that arose in its first impulse lasted in general only the next five years. The new artists showed themselves as daring innovators, destroying everything and tearing off experimental paths.
Among the major pre-revolutionary masters, the following representatives found agreement with the revolution:
- Russian impressionism - K. Yuon, A. Rylov
- — M. Dobuzhinsky, E. Lansere
- — A. Lenturov, P. Konchalovsky, I. Mashkov
- Vanguard -,
There are absolutely new directions in Russian painting on a revolutionary upsurge:
- "Unovis" as a representative of the already revolutionary (existed for 1 year) - included M. Chagall, K. Malevich, L. Lissitzky. The task of unification is new forms and a new "pure art"
- The group of artists "KNIFE" - in terms of tasks and forms, it was close to the ideas of "Jack of Diamonds"
- "Proletkult" - arises as an association on the principle of creating a new culture (proletarian), opposed to the entire heritage of the classics
Meanwhile, in the artistic field of Russia, which changed with the revolution of 1917, artistic groups continued to exist, holding on to traditional forms and depths of philosophical reflection - these are associations:
- "Four Arts" - K.Petrov-Vodkin, N.Tyrsa, A.Kravchenko
- "Makovets" - father P. Florensky, V. Chekrygin
Revolution - new meanings and genres of painting
The leader of the revolutionary events, V. Lenin, saw in painting, as well as in cinema, a huge potential for:
- Education of the population (general), i.e. eradication of illiteracy
- Enlightenment through agitation, i.e. artistic propaganda of new ideas
- Cultural revolution, according to Ilyich, necessary for a "backward country"
This is how whole mass propaganda trends appeared in Russia, combining painting,.
Steamships and trains painted by artists drove across the country, on which speakers, theater groups, projectionists, etc. went to the people. Also, these propaganda trains carried newspapers, posters and other print products, being in essence at that time an analogue of the media. In the difficult five years after October, Russia had almost no other means of information at its disposal.
The walls and hulls of such propaganda ships and trains were semantically decorated with either poster graphics or art panels using primitive forms and techniques that could be accessible to an uneducated person.
Such painting was certainly supplemented by a text explaining the content, as well as necessarily motivating the viewer to action.
As the most mobile and optimally informative genre in the then revolutionary Russia, graphics became the most popular, namely, a drawing (newspaper or magazine) and a poster.
The main types of the poster genre born by the revolution along with the new country of the poster genre were: 
- Heroic and political type (artist D.S. Moor, V. Mayakovsky)
- Satirical type (art. V.N. Denny, M.M. Cheremnykh)
The propaganda and informative "load" in the poster was given in a simple, but bright, capacious graphics. The slogans for it had artistic expressiveness and were quickly perceived and remembered even with a short acquaintance.
Soviet artists who worked in the poster genre brought it to a high level of technology, possessing both their unique manners and personal artistic skill.
In fact, the poster as a type or genre of painting appeared earlier - back in the 19th century, but in a young country that defeated the people's revolution, it was born anew and became a whole independent artistic phenomenon.
Tasks and functions of Soviet poster art
Back in the World War, newspaper graphics played a significant role, comparable to the action of a direct or psychological weapon that crushed the enemy and roused him to battle.
During the period of construction following the war, the poster continued to implement the same tasks, being an ideological tool. As the entire history of the USSR will show, there will not be a single significant event or phenomenon in it that will remain outside its poster comprehension.
Thus, the main functions of the Soviet poster were:
And for the purposes - it is also aesthetic education.
Gradually, as a genre that flawlessly copes with ideological tasks, the poster is generally displayed as the main type of painting. The revolution "secures" for him the status of a real "high art", so in the country:
- Thematic poster exhibitions are held
- These works are included in the collections of museums
- Placed in the archives
- Training courses open
To the credit of the artists who worked in this art form, it should certainly be added that, despite all the global politicization of the poster genre, its art has always been embodied at a highly artistic level. This is partly why, in the future, the functions of the Soviet poster were added, in addition to the above, and tasks:
- Communications as connections between people and power
- Image - as forming the image of the power itself
- Educational - as developing moral and social topics
This period (due to obvious historical changes) is characterized by a change in the main main line of official art in comparison with the previous stage in the development of Russian art. The ideological content begins to come to the fore.
Art belongs to the people. It must have its deepest roots in the very depths of the working masses, it must be understood by these masses and loved by them. It must express the feelings, thoughts and will of these masses, raise them. It should awaken the artists in them and develop them.
The main "tasks" of Soviet art: "to serve the people, to defend the common cause of the struggle for socialism and communism, to bring people the truth, to give birth to creativity in them."
In addition, nationality and multinationality were important concepts.
Periodization 1917-1990:
1 1917-1922 - art of the period of revolution and civil war
2 1922-1932 - Marx's theory stops working, Nep's theory
3 1932-1941 - art of the 30s, party principles, socialist realism
4 1941-1945 - the art of the Second World War, all art for the front, for victory, graphics, a Soviet political poster, in painting a historical picture of a landscape come to the fore.
5 1945-1960-art of the post-war years
6 1960-1980 - the era of Brezhnev's stagnation
Soviet art history divided the masters of Soviet painting of this period into two groups:
Artists who sought to capture the plots in the usual pictorial language of factual display
Artists who used a more complex, figurative perception of modernity. They created symbolic images in which they tried to express their "poetic, inspired" perception of the era in its new state.
2 Painting of the period of revolution and civil war 1917-1922. Art of the period of the Revolution and the Civil War Already in the first months after coming to power, the Soviet government adopted a number of resolutions important for the development of culture:
In November 1917, the Collegium for Museum Affairs and the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquity was created under the People's Commissariat of Education.
"On registration, registration and storage of monuments of art and antiquity" (October 5, 1918) on the general registration of works and monuments of art and antiquity. This accounting was carried out by the museum department of the People's Commissariat of Education.
"On the recognition of scientific, literary, musical and artistic works as state property" (November 26, 1918)
The issue of museums has become an important aspect of government policy in the field of art. In the early years, the Soviet government nationalized art museums, private collections and collections. For the study and systematization of artistic values, the State museum fund, where museum values were concentrated. After accounting, systematization and study, the stage of acquisition of museums began - the values were approximately evenly distributed among the various museums of the country. In parallel, large-scale museum construction began. Painting In the early years of the revolution, traditional easel forms continued to develop. Many of the older Soviet artists of the first years of Soviet power were formed, of course, back in the pre-revolutionary years and, of course, “contact with the new life was associated with considerable difficulties for them, which were associated with the breaking of the creative individualities already established by the period of the revolution.” Soviet art history divided masters of Soviet painting of this period into two groups:
Artists who sought to capture the plots in the usual pictorial language of factual display
Artists who used a more complex, figurative perception of modernity. They created symbolic images in which they tried to express their "poetic, inspired" perception of the era in its new state.
Art forms capable of "living" on the streets in the first years after the revolution played a crucial role in "shaping the social and aesthetic consciousness of the revolutionary people." Therefore, along with monumental sculpture, the political poster received the most active development. It turned out to be the most mobile and operational art form.
During the Civil War, this genre was characterized by the following qualities:
"Sharpness of material supply,
Instant reaction to rapidly changing events,
Agitational orientation, thanks to which the main features of the plastic language of the poster were formed.
They turned out to be laconism, conventionality of the image, clarity of silhouette and gesture. Posters were extremely common, printed in large numbers and posted everywhere.
Before the revolution, there was no political poster (as a formed type of graphics) - there were only advertising or theater posters. The Soviet political poster inherited the traditions of Russian graphics, in the first place - political magazine satire. Many of the masters of the poster have developed precisely in magazines. Festive decoration of cities
The artistic decoration of the festivities is another new phenomenon of Soviet art that had no tradition. The holidays included the anniversaries of the October Revolution, May 1, March 8 and other Soviet holidays.
This created a new non-traditional art form that gave painting a new space and function.
For the holidays, monumental panels were created, which were characterized by a huge monumental propaganda pathos. Artists created sketches for the design of squares and streets. The first post-revolutionary the five-year period (1917-1922) was marked by the diversity and fragility of artistic platforms, the activity of left-wing artists who saw in the new conditions the possibility of implementing the most daring innovative ideas.
Most of the pre-revolutionary artists began to cooperate with the Soviet authorities, among whom were the Wanderers, and the Russian Impressionists (Rylov, Yuon), and the World of Art (Lancere, Dobuzhinsky), and the Blue Bearers (Kuznetsov, Saryan), and the Jack of Diamonds (Konchalovsky, Mashkov, Lentulov).
At first, abstractionists V. Kandinsky and K. Malevich occupied a prominent place in the Department of Fine Arts of the People's Commissariat for Education. The ideas of the revolution gave birth to new directions. Among them, the new Russian revolutionary avant-garde "Unovis" ("Affirmative of the New Art", 1919-1920. Malevich, Chagall, Lissitzky) declared a struggle for "pure" art and began to develop propaganda forms. "KNIFE" (New Society of Painters) was close to the jacks of diamonds.
“Proletkult” accepted an attempt to create an organization of a new proletarian culture “on the ruins of the past”, abandoning the classical heritage, but did not last long, having no support from both artists and viewers.
The artists of the associations "Four Arts" (Kravchenko, Tyrsa, Petrov-Vodkin) and "Makovets" (Chekrygin, Father Pavel Florensky) opposed avant-gardism for the philosophical depth of art and the traditional monumentalism of forms.
The romanticism of the first post-revolutionary years was conveyed in symbolic and allegorical form by P. Filonov in the series of paintings “Entering the World Heyday” (1919); K. Yuon "New Planet", B. Kustodiev "Bolshevik". As early as the beginning of the 20th century, K. Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939) expressed a premonition of impending changes in Russia in the painting Bathing a Red Horse (1912, State Tretyakov Gallery). He conveyed the threat to the peaceful life of ordinary people during the years of the civil war in the film “1919. Anxiety "(1934, Russian Museum).
The type of a new hero - a working man, an athlete and a social activist, is created in the portrait genre by A.N. Samokhvalov "Girl in a T-shirt". During the years of the Civil War, propaganda-mass art came to the fore: the decoration of holidays and rallies, the painting of propaganda trains, etc. (B. Kustodiev, K. Petrov-Vodkin, N. Altman); political poster (A. Apsit “Breast to the defense of Petrograd”, D. Moor “Have you signed up as a volunteer?”, “Help!”. Windows of GROWTH (1919-1921, Mayakovsky and Cheremnykh).
In 1922, the AHRR (Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia) was created, which existed until 1932. Its organizers were A. Arkhipov, N. Dormidontov, S. Malyutin and other late Wanderers. The propaganda of her "new course" attracted artists of different views on art - former jacks of diamonds, artists of the "KNIFE" Society, "4 Arts", etc.
The style of the lubok had a great influence on what the first Russian political posters were like, which appeared just during the First World War (1914-1918) and the revolutionary events of 1917. Vera Panfilova, head of the Fine Arts Department of the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, told the BBC about the 1917 posters.
sovrhistory.ru
After February 1917, representatives of almost all political movements, with the exception of the Bolsheviks and Menshevik-internationalists, declared the need to continue the war until victory and loyalty to Russia's allied obligations. In order to continue this war, the government needed the monetary contributions of the population. In 1916, the so-called State 5.5% loan arose. After February 1917, it became the Liberty Loan. Kustodievsky soldier has become a symbol: against the background of red banners, he asks for money to continue the war. In the future, the soldier will be on almost all the posters of 1917 - from February to October. Material by Alexandra Semenova, BBC Russian Service.
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Another style. Event poster. It's kind of like a TV picture. The poster shows Voskresenskaya Square and the building of the Moscow City Duma (later the Lenin Museum, and now the Historical Museum). Here everything was in full swing in March 1917. This is an event picture. Record an event, an impulse. Because the revolution was expected and received with enthusiasm. The population perceived the revolution as the beginning of a new era in the history of the country. The broadest masses supported February. And all this took place against the backdrop of the ongoing war. And hence the demand and development of graphics.
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It's not really a poster. This is an illustrated flyer. Why is that? Because in Russia power is personified. The power goes on leaders, on leaders. Based on the personification and the need to popularize the leaders of the new Russia, such illustrated leaflets were published. Members of the Provisional Government are here, headed by Duma Chairman Mikhail Rodzianko. In the bottom row, third from the left, Alexander Kerensky, the first socialist in the government. Kerensky and printed in separate sheets, he was one of the most popular. The left movement actively promoted its own. His rating was very high. Here on the poster, on the leaflet - the Tauride Palace, flags, slogans. Behind there are bawlers. With a mountain flag. Revolutionary car. Lots of men with guns. Left. And the slogans of the left. And the slogans of the Socialist-Revolutionaries "Land and freedom" and "In the struggle you will find your right." So far, there are no Bolsheviks here.
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This is a poster of the Parus publishing house, a left-wing publishing house. It was known even before the revolution. At the origins of this publishing house was Maxim Gorky. The publishing house published not only magazines, but also books, including Lenin's works. For left-wing posters, such famous poets and artists as Vladimir Mayakovsky and Alexei Radakov were attracted. In this poster, there is a tradition of popular multi-composition drawing and, at the same time, a kind of forerunner of comics. This is a story in a picture. First - who did the soldier protect before? These are bourgeois. And the soldier is forced to defend the rotten to the end system.
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In March 1917, Nikolai abdicated the throne and at the same time the Provisional Government was created. And on this poster - "Memo of the people's victory." The same revolutionary forces are here: an armed soldier, an armed worker. Removed ermine mantle. Kneeling Nicholas hands over the crown. Trampled scepter and orb. And in the background is the Tauride Palace, where the deputies of the State Duma met. And above it the sun rises as a symbol of freedom. This symbol will then be repeated in posters. The revolution in this short period (until October) was presented as something bright, kind, sunny, but then, after October, with the outbreak of the Civil War, the revolution ceased to be a young lady in white clothes.
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A poster by Alexei Radakov, Mayakovsky's colleague in the Parus publishing house. This is the so-called social pyramid. Social pyramid plots have been surprisingly popular since the beginning of the 20th century. The first social pyramid of the artist Lokhov was published in Geneva in 1891. And then redrawings and based on motives - a lot of options were created. Here, too, an appeal to the traditions of the popular print with a clear meaning for the broad masses. From above, everything is covered with an ermine mantle. Remember what Nicholas II wrote about his profession during the All-Russian census of 1897? He wrote: "The owner of the Russian land." The most popular satirical plots before the summer of 1917 were anti-clerical and anti-monarchist, aimed specifically at Emperor Nicholas II and his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
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In the autumn of 1917, the first general election campaign in history began in Russia. And she was fierce and uncompromising. Several dozen parties and associations, both political and national, participated in the elections. Among those who took part in the elections, the Socialist-Revolutionary Party was the most numerous.
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"Anarchy will be defeated by democracy." This is a cadet party. An essential detail of the poster is a combination of animalism and mythological images - a pangolin (anarchy) and a knight on a white horse (democracy). Congestion with text reduced the effectiveness of the impact on the viewer, which later to some extent influenced the results of the elections.
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Compare the previous poster with this one. Socialist-Revolutionaries. Properly conducted the election campaign. The victory of the Socialist-Revolutionaries was predetermined by such well-organized agitation. Everything is right on the poster. Addressed to workers and peasants. Clear and precise slogans - "Land and freedom". "Let's break the chains and the whole globe will be free." Two streams, workers and peasants, according to the author's plan, uniting, will definitely come to the polling station.
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As for the Bolsheviks, the RSDLP, they did not consider it necessary to pay attention to artistic propaganda - that is, the poster. But they knew how to draw conclusions from mistakes. And when the Civil War broke out, all the forces of the "Reds" were thrown into political art propaganda. The same Radakov, Mayakovsky, and others participated in the creation of the famous "Windows of GROWTH", which became the Soviet "brand" and a classic of world poster art. And White lost in terms of visual agitation - as before, there are a lot of unnecessary details and a lot of text. No one will read a well-written Denikin program, multi-column, on a poster.
Not only in Leningrad, but also in Moscow - the two most active artistic centers of the country - there are more and more calls to oppose the Soviet poster to the Western one, more and more often the acquaintance of Russian artists with the works of their German colleagues, the achievements of French or American graphics is seen as a harmful influence. Even such a master as Lissitzky, whose work in the 1920s. was closely connected with the world artistic process, once again emphasized in the preface to the catalog All-Union Printing Exhibition of 1927 that it was the October Revolution of 1917 that contributed to the creation of a new industrial graphics. Noting that in Germany the poster "was used politically," Lissitzky nevertheless insisted that "only in our country did it take on a clear social and artistic form." .
Lissitzky's theses on the innovative essence and social activity of Russian photomontage were vividly illustrated at the 1927 exhibition by posters Klutsis And Senkina. In their work, photomontage, which was a topic of intense debate throughout the 1920s, found a special life. They knew how to give the plot versatility and a special visual polyphony to the sheets devoted to the appeals of the party and industrial plans. Sharply, actively comparing fragments of natural, documentary photography with conditional graphic elements, these masters increased the scale of the poster form, giving it an increased monumentality and even a certain epic quality.
Klutsis was a founding member Association "October", whose declaration, published in June 1928, said that all types of art - both traditional - painting, graphics, and "industrial" - poster, photography or cinema - should first of all "serve the working people" in the field of "ideological propaganda", as well as in the field of "production and direct organization of life". And almost all sheets Klutsis, in which photo frames are combined with type compositions ("From NEP Russia will be socialist Russia" (No. 14)) or in which color contrasts are vividly used ("Komsomol members, sowing for shock!" (No. 15)) are dedicated specifically to ideological propaganda. Distinguished by pictorial power and special dynamism, which was often created by unexpected visual accents (“The development of transport is one of the most important tasks for the implementation of the five-year plan” (No. 16)), the posters of Klutsis or his follower Senkin were perceived by many as those very “proletarian paintings” about which the theorists of constructivism wrote. It is interesting that the birth of some sheets was preceded - as with easel artists - by the "study period", the time of accumulation of natural material. They made trips to the industrial regions of the country, and in the Donbass, for example, they photographed the expressive types of miners, who later became the central images of poster compositions ("Let's return the coal debt to the country" (No. 13)).
These theses Klutsis also defended at the discussion at the Institute of Literature, Art and Language at the Communist Academy, which unfolded thanks to the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted in March 1931 "About Poster Literature". It stated "an unacceptably ugly attitude to the poster and picture business on the part of various publishers ... which was reflected in the release of a significant percentage of anti-Soviet posters."
The management of "poster production" in this regard was transferred Department of Agitation and Mass Campaigns of the Central Committee, a system of strict ideological review was introduced, involving not only official censorship, but also students of the Institute of Red Professors. It was also proposed to organize "preliminary discussions" at enterprises, where ordinary workers were supposed to develop topics, as well as view sketches and finished "picture and poster production."
Thus, the poster was one of the first to be subjected to strict regulation by the party authorities, artistic disputes ended in total ideological control.
In 1932 a book was published "For the Bolshevik poster", in the preface of which it was emphasized: "Comrade Stalin's instructions demand that the front of the proletarian arts give the most severe rebuff to all deviations from Leninism." Here was the main indication: “The first and main requirement that we must present to the poster is political, ideological richness; it must contain content that comes from our reality in its dialectical materialist interpretation.”
The culture of the Soviet and post-Soviet period is a bright large-scale coil of the Russian heritage. The events of 1917 became a reference point in the development of a new way of life, the formation of a new way of thinking. The mood of society in the late XIX - early XX centuries. resulted in the October Revolution, a turning point in the history of the country. Now she was waiting for a new future with its own ideals and goals. Art, which in a sense is a mirror of the era, has also become a tool for putting into practice the tenets of the new regime. Unlike other types of artistic creativity, painting, which is forming and shaping a person’s thought, penetrated people’s consciousness in the most accurate and direct way. On the other hand, pictorial art was least of all subordinated to the propaganda function and reflected the experiences of the people, their dreams and, above all, the spirit of the times.
Russian avant-garde
The new art did not completely avoid the old traditions. Painting, in the first post-revolutionary years, absorbed the influence of the futurists and the avant-garde in general. The avant-garde, with its contempt for the traditions of the past, which was so close to the destructive ideas of the revolution, found adherents in the face of young artists. In parallel with these trends, realistic tendencies developed in the visual arts, which were given life by the critical realism of the 19th century. This bipolarity, ripening at the time of the change of eras, made the life of the artist of that time especially stressful. The two paths that emerged in post-revolutionary painting, although they were opposites, nevertheless, we can observe the influence of the avant-garde on the work of realistic artists. Realism itself in those years was diverse. Works of this style have a symbolic, agitational and even romantic appearance. Absolutely accurately conveys in symbolic form a grandiose change in the life of the country, the work of B.M. Kustodiev - "Bolshevik" and, filled with pathetic tragedy and uncontrollable jubilation, "New Planet" by K.F. Yuon.
Painting by P.N. Filonov, with his special creative method - "analytical realism" - is a fusion of two contrasting artistic movements, which we can see in the example of a cycle with a propaganda title and meaning "Entering the world's heyday".
P.N. Filonov Ships from the cycle Entering the World Heyday. 1919 GTG
The unquestioning nature of universal human values, unshakable even in such troubled times, is expressed by the image of the beautiful “Petrograd Madonna” (official name “1918 in Petrograd”) by K.S. Petrov-Vodkin.
A positive attitude to revolutionary events infects the bright and sunny, airy work of the landscape painter A.A. Rylov. The landscape “Sunset”, in which the artist expressed the premonition of the fire of the revolution, which will flare up from the growing flame of the doomsday fire over the past era, is one of the inspiring symbols of this time.
Together with the symbolic images that organize the uplift of the national spirit and carry along, like an obsession, there was also a trend in realistic painting, with a craving for a concrete transfer of reality.
To this day, the works of this period keep a spark of rebellion that can declare itself within each of us. Many works not endowed with such qualities or contrary to them were destroyed or forgotten, and will never be presented to our eyes.
The avant-garde forever leaves its mark on realistic painting, but a period of intensive development of the direction of realism begins.
The time of artistic associations
The 1920s is the time of creating a new world on the ruins left by the Civil War. For art, this is a period in which various creative associations launched their activities in full force. Their principles were partly shaped by early artistic groupings. The Association of Artists of the Revolution (1922 - AHRR, 1928 - AHRR), personally carried out the orders of the state. Under the slogan of "heroic realism", the artists who were part of it documented in their works the life and life of a person - the brainchild of the revolution, in various genres of painting. The main representatives of the AHRR were I.I. Brodsky, who absorbed the realistic influences of I.E. Repin, who worked in the historical-revolutionary genre and created a whole series of works depicting V.I. Lenin, E.M. Cheptsov is a master of everyday genre, M.B. Grekov, who painted battle scenes in a rather impressionistic madder. All these masters were the founders of the genres in which they performed most of their works. Among them, the canvas "Lenin in Smolny" stands out, in which I.I. Brodsky in the most direct and sincere form conveyed the image of the leader.
In the painting "Meeting of a member cell" E.I. Cheptsov very reliably, without artificiality depicts the events that took place in the life of the people.
A magnificent joyful, noisy image filled with stormy movement and victory celebration is created by M.B. Grekov in the composition "Trumpeters of the First Cavalry Army".
The idea of a new person, a new image of a person is expressed by the trends emerging in the portrait genre, the brightest masters of which were S.V. Malyutin and G.G. Ryazhsky. In the portrait of the writer-fighter Dmitry Furmanov, S.V. Malyutin shows a man of the old world who managed to fit into the new world. A new trend is declaring itself, which originated in the work of N.A. Kasatkina and developed to the highest extent in the female images of G.G. Ryazhsky - "Delegate", "Chairman", in which the personal beginning is erased and the type of person created by the new world is established.
An absolutely accurate impression is formed about the development of the landscape genre at the sight of the work of the advanced landscape painter B.N. Yakovleva - "Transport is getting better."
B.N. Yakovlev Transport is getting better. 1923
This genre depicts a renewing country, the normalization of all spheres of life. During these years, the industrial landscape comes to the fore, the images of which become symbols of creation.
The Society of Easel Painters (1925) is the next art association in this period. Here the artist sought to convey the spirit of modernity, the type of a new person, resorting to a more distant transmission of images due to the minimum number of expressive means. In the works of "Ostovtsev" the theme of sports is often demonstrated. Their painting is filled with dynamics and expression, which can be seen in the works of A.A. Deineka "Defense of Petrograd", Yu.P. Pimenov "Football", etc.
The members of another well-known association - the "Four Arts" - chose the expressiveness of the image, due to the concise and constructive form, as well as a special attitude to its color richness, as the basis of their artistic creativity. The most memorable representative of the association is K.S. Petrov-Vodkin and one of his most outstanding works of this period - "Death of the Commissar", which, through a special pictorial language, reveals a deep symbolic image, a symbol of the struggle for a better life.
From the composition of the "Four Arts" P.V. Kuznetsov, works dedicated to the East.
The last major artistic association of this period is the Society of Moscow Artists (1928), which differs from the rest in the manner of energetic modeling of volumes, attention to chiaroscuro and plastic expressiveness of form. Almost all representatives were members of the "Tambourine Volt" - adherents of futurism - which greatly affected their work. The works of P.P. Konchalovsky, who worked in different genres. For example, portraits of his wife O.V. Konchalovskaya convey the specifics of not only the author's hand, but also the painting of the entire association.
On April 23, 1932, all art associations were dissolved by the Decree "On the Restructuring of Literary and Artistic Organizations" and the Union of Artists of the USSR was created. Creativity has fallen into the sinister fetters of rigid ideologization. The artist's freedom of expression, the basis of the creative process, was violated. Despite such a breakdown, the artists previously united in communities continued their activities, but new figures occupied the leading role in the pictorial environment.
B.V. Ioganson was influenced by I.E. Repin and V.I. Surikov, his canvases show a compositional search and interesting possibilities in the color scheme, but the author's paintings are marked by an excessive satirical attitude, inappropriate in such a naturalistic manner, which we can observe in the example of the painting "At the Old Ural Plant".
A.A. Deineka does not remain aloof from the "official" line of art. He is still true to his artistic principles. Now he continues to work in genre themes, besides, he paints portraits and landscapes. The painting "Future Pilots" shows well his painting during this period: romantic, light.
The artist creates a large number of works on a sports theme. From this period, his watercolors, written after 1935, remained.
Painting of the 1930s represents a fictional world, the illusion of a bright and festive life. It was easiest for the artist to remain sincere in the genre of landscape. The genre of still life is developing.
The portrait is also subject to intensive development. P.P. Konchalovsky writes a series of cultural figures ("V. Sofronitsky at the piano"). The works of M.V. Nesterov, who absorbed the influence of V.A. Serov, show a person as a creator, the essence of whose life is a creative search. This is how we see the portraits of the sculptor I.D. Shadr and surgeon S.S. Yudin.
P.D. Korin continues the portrait tradition of the previous artist, but his pictorial style consists in conveying the rigidity of the form, a sharper, more expressive silhouette and harsh coloring. In general, the theme of the creative intelligentsia is of great importance in the portrait.
An artist at war
With the advent of the Great Patriotic War, artists begin to take an active part in hostilities. Due to the direct unity with the events, works appeared in the early years, the essence of which is a fixation of what is happening, a "picturesque sketch". Often such paintings lacked depth, but their transmission expressed the artist's completely sincere attitude, the height of moral pathos. The genre of the portrait comes to relative prosperity. Artists, seeing and experiencing the destructive influence of the war, admire its heroes - people from the people, persistent and noble in spirit, who showed the highest humanistic qualities. Such trends resulted in ceremonial portraits: “Portrait of Marshal G.K. Zhukov" by P.D. Korina, cheerful faces from P.P. Konchalovsky. Of great importance are the portraits of the intelligentsia M.S. Saryan, created during the war years - this is the image of the academician "I.A. Orbeli”, writer “M.S. Shahinyan" and others.
From 1940 to 1945, the landscape and everyday genre also developed, which A.A. Plastov. "The fascist has flown" conveys the tragedy of the life of this period.
The psychologism of the landscape here fills the work even more with sadness and silence of the human soul, only the howl of a devoted friend cuts through the wind of confusion. In the end, the meaning of the landscape is rethought and begins to embody the harsh image of wartime.
Narrative paintings stand out separately, for example, "The Mother of the Partisan" by S.V. Gerasimov, which is characterized by a refusal to glorify the image.
Historical painting timely creates images of national heroes of the past. One of these unshakable and inspiring images is "Alexander Nevsky" by P.D. Korin, personifying the unconquered proud spirit of the people. In this genre, by the end of the war, a trend of simulated dramaturgy is outlined.
The theme of war in painting
In the painting of the post-war period, ser. 1940 - con. In the 1950s, the leading position in painting was occupied by the theme of war, as a moral and physical test, from which the Soviet people emerged victorious. Historical-revolutionary, historical genres are developing. The main theme of the everyday genre is peaceful labor, which was dreamed of for many years of war. The canvases of this genre are permeated with cheerfulness and happiness. The artistic language of the everyday genre becomes narrative and gravitates toward lifelikeness. In the last years of this period, the landscape also undergoes changes. The life of the region is revived in it, the connection between man and nature is strengthened again, an atmosphere of tranquility appears. Love for nature is also sung in still life. An interesting development is the portrait in the work of various artists, which is characterized by the transfer of the individual. One of the outstanding works of this period were: "Letter from the front" by A.I. Laktionov, a work similar to a window into a radiant world;
the composition "Rest after the battle", in which Yu.M. Neprintsev achieves the same vitality of the image as A.I. Laktionov;
work by A.A. Mylnikova "On Peaceful Fields", joyfully rejoicing at the end of the war and the reunification of man and labor;
original landscape image of G.G. Nissky - "Over the snows", etc.
Severe style to replace socialist realism
Art 1960-1980s is a new stage. A new "severe style" is being developed, the task of which was to recreate reality without everything that deprives the work of depth and expressiveness and has a detrimental effect on creative manifestations. He was characterized by conciseness and generalization of the artistic image. Artists of this style glorified the heroic beginning of harsh working days, which was created by a special emotional structure of the picture. "Severe style" was a definite step towards the democratization of society. The portrait became the main genre for which the adherents of the style worked; a group portrait, an everyday genre, a historical and historical-revolutionary genre are also developing. V.E. Popkov, who painted many self-portraits-paintings, V.I. Ivanov is a supporter of a group portrait, G.M. Korzhev, who created historical canvases. The disclosure of the essence of the "severe style" can be seen in the painting "Geologists" by P.F. Nikonov, "Polar explorers" A.A. and P.A. Smolins, "Father's Overcoat" by V.E. Popkov. In the genre of landscape, there is an interest in northern nature.
Symbolism of the era of stagnation
In the 1970-1980s. a new generation of artists is being formed, whose art has influenced to some extent the art of today. They are characterized by symbolic language, theatrical entertainment. Their painting is quite artistic and virtuoso. The main representatives of this generation are T.G. Nazarenko ("Pugachev"),
whose favorite theme was a holiday and a masquerade, A.G. Sitnikov, who uses metaphor and parable as a form of plastic language, N.I. Nesterova, creator of ambiguous paintings ("The Last Supper"), I.L. Lubennikov, N.N. Smirnov.
The Last Supper. N.I. Nesterov. 1989
Thus, this time appears in its variety of styles and diversity as the final, formative link of today's fine arts.
Our epoch has discovered a huge wealth of the picturesque heritage of previous generations. A modern artist is not limited by almost any framework that was defining, and sometimes hostile to the development of fine arts. Some of today's artists are trying to adhere to the principles of the Soviet realistic school, someone finds himself in other styles and directions. The tendencies of conceptual art, which are ambiguously perceived by society, are very popular. The breadth of artistic and expressive means and ideals that the past has provided us must be rethought and serve as the basis for new creative paths and the creation of a new image.
Our art history workshops
Our Gallery of Modern Art not only offers a large selection of Soviet and post-Soviet art, but also holds regular lectures and master classes on the history of contemporary art.
You can sign up for a master class, leave wishes for the master class that you would like to attend by filling out the form below. We will definitely read an interesting lecture for you on the topic of your choice.
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