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6. Russian Art (1917 - 1930)
Kenneth G. Hay
Professor Emeritus of Contemporary Art Practice, The University of Leeds,
UK

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Wassily Kandinsky, “Watercolour (Number 13)”, (1913)
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Watercolour on Paper 32,1 x 41 cm (MOMA. NY)
Kandisnky makes use of the ‘automatic line’ as a contour sometimes liberated from pictorial
description and free to ‘’discover’ form. Line as gesture drives Kandinsky’s watercolours.
Kandinsky sought to disengage line and form from their descriptive/anecdotal function and instead
to freely interact in an abstract space because he believed the world of appearances was illusory.
Line became the vehicle for search and aspiration, colour only obliquely and then symbollically
referred to objects, becoming a symbol of the spiritual, whereby sound and colour are linked
synaesthetically. Line too freed the ‘pure inner sound” of objects.

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Marc Zakharovich Chagall (1887-1985), “Hommage to Gogol” (1917) (Theatre curtain)

 Watercolour on paper, 39.4 x 50.2 cm (MOMA, NY)
Painter and Graphic artist
Studied at Studio of Pen Vitebsk (1906), The School of the Society for the Encouragement of the
Arts, St Petersburg (1907-8), studio of Zayderberg (1908) and Zvansteva (1908-10) under Bakst and
Dobuzhinsky. From 1911 exhibited at Salon des Indépendants, World of Art, Donkey’s Tail, Target.
Lived in Paris, worked at La Ruche (1910-14). In 1914 first one-man show at Galerie Der Sturm,
Berlin. Returned to Vitebsk in 1914 and was Head of School in 1918. Left under pressure from
Malevich and followers. Lived in Moscow (1920-2) Moved to Berlin, participated in Exhibition of
Three (Altman, Chagall, Shterenberg). From 1923, lived in Paris. Exhibition I Galerie Barbazanges,
Paris (1924) First retrospective, Basle (1933).

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Aristarkh Lentulov, (1882-1943) “Peace, Celebration, Liberation”, (1917)

Oil on canvas, 153 x 137 cm
Coll S.A.Shuster & Ye. V.Kryukova
One of the organisers of “The Knave of Diamonds” (1910) - a show which included Robert Falk, Pyotr
Konchalovsky - all developed a post-Cézanne style before WWI, not as avant-garde as the
Constructivists or Suprematists, but not provincial nor derivative

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Nadezhda A. Udaltsova (1886-1961)
•“Composition” (1916)
•Gouache on Paper, 41 x 30 cm Coll. A. A. Drevin & Ye. A. Drevin.
•Picasso & Braque’s ‘Synthetic Cubism’ developed out of Braque’s collage technique of ‘Papiers
collés” from c. 1912 and Udaltsova, who was in Paris between 1912-13 with Cubist artists Le
Fauconnier and Metzinger picked this technique up directly from them.
•
•
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Painter, Studied at MUZhVZ (1905-9), Studio of Youn, Moscow,(!906-7) under Dudin and Ulyanov,
studio of Kish, Moscow (1909), La Palette, Paris (1912-13) under Metzinger, Le Fauconnier and
Segonzac; and Tatlin’s Studio, The Tower (1913). From 1914 exhibited at: Knave of Diamonds, Tramway
V, 0.01.
Member of Supremus Group (1916), IZO (1918) and INKhUK (1921).
Travelled in Urals and Altai with husband Aleksandr Drevin (1930-1)

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Lyubov Popova(1889-1924), “Pictorial Architectonics” (1916)

Oil on Canvas, 106 x 88.5 cm; Coll. D.V.Sarabyanov
Painter, theatre artist and industrial designer. Studied with Zhukovsky, Youn and Dudin (1907-8)
Studied Medieval painting and architecture of Pskov and Vologda (1910-11), and works of Giotto in
Italy (1910)
Studied in Tatlin’s studio (1912), and La Palette, Paris (1912-13) under Le Fauconnier and
Metzinger. Worked in Tatlin’s studio with Vesnin (1913-15). Exhibited at the Knave of Diamonds,
Tramway V, ).01, Shop, 5 x 5=25. Member of Supremus group (1916) Taught at SVOMAS/VKhUTEMAS from
1918. Member of INKhUK from 1920. One of the leaders of Constructivist and Productivist art.
Stopped painting in 1921 to concentrate on Design. Worked for Meyerhold from 1922 and Stepanova for
the State Textile Factory, Moscow (1923-4).

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Aleksandr K.Bogomazov(1880-1930)
•“Tram” (1914)
•Studied at Kiev art school and with Yuon and Reberg in Moscow. (1905-7)
•From 1907 exhibited with The Knave of Diamonds, The Ring
•Wrote “Elements of Painting” 1914
•Leading member of Ukranian Futurists.
•Worked in Caucasus (1914-17). Returned to Kiev in 1917 to design decorations for revolutionary
holidays (1919) and Agit Trains (1920) Taught at Kiev School of Printing (1918-22) and Institute of
Plastic Arts (1922-30).
A.Bogomazov.jpg 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:

Oil on Canvas 142 x 74 cms; Coll V.A. Dudakov & M.K.Kashuro

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Vasily Chekrigin,(1897-1922) “Portrait of Vladimir Tatlin”, (1913)

Oil on canvas, 68.5 x 52 cm; Coll I. G. Sanovich
Illustrated Mayakovsky’s first book of poetry, I (1913). Affiliated with the Futurists 1913-14, by
1919 making utopian drawings based on philosopher Nikolai Fedorov, about the transmutation of souls
into stars.

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Kyril M. Zdanevich (1882-1970), “Orchestral Self Portrait” (V.Gudiashvili,
Kara-Dervish, K. Zdanevivh, A. Kruchyonykh) (c. 1917)

Watercolour on Paper, 76.5 x 153 cm, Coll of  S. A. Schuster and Ye. V. Kryukova
Graphic artist, painter and theatre designer.
Studied at School of Painting & Sculpture, Tbilisi (early 1900s) under Sklifasovsky, Academy of
Arts (1911) and in Paris (1912-14). From 1912 exhibited at Donkey’s Tail, Target, Worked in
Tatlin’s studio, The Tower (1913-15), Lived and worked in Tbilisi (1917-25) and Moscow.Discovered
work of Georgian Primitive Pirosmani Decorated Khimerioni tavern, designed and illustrated Futurist
Poetry, by Mayakovsky, Kruchyonykh,; Co-authored declarations and Futurist publications on
Futurists with brother I. Zdanevivh.

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Aleksandr V. Shevchenka (1883-1948), “Idleness and Shadow” (1914)

Oil on Canvas, 67 x 71 cm
Coll. I.G. Sanovich
Painter and graphic artist. Studied at Stroganov Institute, Moscow (1899-1907), then the studio of
Eugene Carrière, Académie Julian, Paris (1905-6) under Dinet and Laurens, and MUZHVZ (1907-10)
under Korovin. Visited England, Spain, Egypt and Turkey. From 1912 participated in the Donkey’s
Tail, No.4, World of Art.
1913 wrote Neo-Primitivism.
With Larionov became an important Neo-Primitivist and Rayonist artist.
Member of INKhUK (1920), MTKh, group Makovets (1922-5) and OMKh (1928-9)
Founder of Corporation of Painters (1926-8)
Taught at VKhUTEMAS (1920-8)and Textile Institute, Moscow (from 1940).

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Vladimir V. Mayakovsky (1893-1930)
•“Self Portrait” (c. 1915)
•Oil on board 50.5 x 31 cm.  Coll. V.V.Katanyan
•Poet, playwright and artist. Studied at Stroganov Institute (1908) in the studio of Kelin, Moscow
(1910) and MUZHVZ (1911-14)
•Illustrated Futurist publication ; produced propaganda posters for Lubok publishers during WWI.
•During Civil War devised stencilled propaganda and public information posters. Member of LEF
(1923-5) and Novy Lef (1927-8)( Worked with Rodchenko during NEP, writing copy for State stores and
industries.
•In February 1930 Mayakovsky opened an exhibition called Twenty Years of Work, intended to prove to
RAPP and the Party his revolutionary credentials and that his work was intelligible to the masses.
Shown in Leningrad and Moscow, the exhibition was ignored by both Party and criticised by Press.
Depressed by this and an unhappy love affair, Mayakovsky took his own life in April 1930.
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Red Rayonism (1913). Watercolor on paper, 26,3 x 36,4 cm. The Merzinger collection, Switzerland.

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Natalia Goncharova, “Rayonist Forest” (1913)
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Kasimir Malevich, “Dynamic Suprematism” (1917)

Malevich developed his abstract Suprematist paintings during the First World War, and imbued them
with a strong mystical dimension. His Black Square when first exhibited was placed in the corner f
a room, where traditionally icons would be placed., thus lending it a transcendental quality.
After the Revolution the spiritual and cosmic dimension became more dominant. “Dynamic Suprematism”
uses a wider range of colours, including pastels, so that the forms read as concretized light.
Shortly afterwards, he began his “White on White”: series.

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Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935): “Suprematist Composition:White on White”, 1918?

Painter and graphic, theatre and industrial designer.
Studied at Drawing School, Kiev (1895-6), MUZhVZ (1904-5) and studio of Rerberg, Moscow (1905-10)
From 1910 exhibited in Knave of Diamonds, Donkey’s Tail, Unon of Youth, Der Blaue Reiter, Tramway
V, 0.10.
Staged Opera ‘Victory over the Sun” (Libretto by Kruchyonykh, music by Matiushin) and produced
first Suprematist sketches fro Costumes and scenery (1913)
First Suprematist paintings (1915) Published “From Cubism to Suprematism” (1915) and theoretical
works on contemporary art. Head teacher at SVOMAS (1918) and in Vitebsk taught at Art School
(1919-20), founded UNOVIS group (1920)
Taught at VKhUTEMAS (from 1922)
Director of GINKhUK (1923-7) and Professor of Academy of Arts (from 1922)
Designed Mayakovsky’s “Mystery Bouffe”, directed by Meyerhold (1918)
Worked on Designs for ceramics and architectural models (from 1923)
First one-man show in Moscow 1919. Lived in Leningrad.
“Suprematist Composition: White on White” 1918? Oil on Canvas, 79.4 x 79.4 cm; (MOMA NY)
Malevich identified flight - liberation in space - with a release from natural, earth-bound
existence
Suprematism symbolised philosophical absolutes, plastic relationships, and the spiritual values of
a new society simultaneously. A key to universal knowledge and freedom from the material world.

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ceramics.jpg 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:
Soviet Ceramics:Nikolai Lapshin, Suprematist dish (1923); Nikolai Suctin, Suprematist dish
(1930s);  Sergei Chekhonn, “From Highest Peaks of Science” 1921; Aleksandra
Shchekotikina-Pototskaya, “Card Game”, 1923

Lapshin (1888-1942) Graphic arftist and painter. Studied at Drawing School OPKh, St Petersburg and
studio of Tsionglinsky and Bernshteyn. From 1922 exhibited in New Tendencies in Art, Petrograd
Artists of all Tendencies, Four Arts,
Worked on agitational ceramics for Lomonosov Porcelain and graphics;
Nikolai M. Suetin (1897-1954), Painter, graphic artist, designer and ceramics painter. Studied at
Higher Institute, Vitebsk (1918-22) under Makevich.  Coll O. Severtsevaya, diameter c. 18cm
Member of UNOVIS group; Worked for Petrograd State Ceramics Factory from 1923. Member of GINKhUK
(§923-6). Worked at Experimental Laboratory, Institute of Art History (1927-30), Chief artist,
Leningrad ceramics Factory
Also book illustrator and exhibition designer. One of leading Suprematist artists. Chief designer
of Soviet Pavilion at World Exhibitions, Paris (1937) and New York (1939).
Sergei V. Chekhonin (1878-1935). Graphic designer, miniaturist, painter and Ceramics and enamel
artist. Studied at Drawing School of OPKh St Petersburg (1896-7) under Tsionglinsky, Sabaneev and
Shreyber, and Tenisheva School (1887-1900), under Repin.
1904 worked at Abramtsevo pottery workshop, Moscow; Published satirical drawings (1904-5); Worked
at Paulin’s Kikerin Ceramics Factory (1907). From 1909 exhibited at Union of Artists, World of Art,
Russian Book Plates, Exhibition of Russian Ceramics. Leading book illustrator from 1910 -1917.
Member of World of Art Group
Lived in Paris from 1928.
Aleksandra Shchekotikhia (1892-1967)Theatre designer, ceramics painter and sculptor. Studied
Drawing at OPK (1908-15), St Petersburg under Roerich, Bilibin whom she married, Tsionglinsky and
Shchuko. Visited Greece, Italy and France (1913)
Worked at studios of Denis, Vallotton and Sérusier (1913). Designed sets and costumes for theatre
(1912-20) including Diaghilev’s Stravinsky,”Rite of Spring”(1913)
From 1913v exhibited at World of Art, Community of Artists, House of Arts, State Ceramics Factory,
Worked at State Ceramics Factory as painter and agitational ceramicist (1918-23)
Lived in Paris (1925-36). Worked at Leningrad Ceramics Factory (1936-53). One of most outstanding
ceramic artists in Soviet Union. One woman show Paris (1926) and Leningrad (1955).
A Baltic Sailor, a merchant and a peasant seated in a garden table. On the table a plate of fish,
vegetables and cards. In the background, buildings and the cupola of churches, Dsiameter 36 cms.
Coll V.A. Dudakov & M.K.Kashuro

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Naum Gabo, “Head of a Woman” c 1917-20 (after a work of 1916)

Construction in Celluloid and metal, 62.2 x 48.9 cm (MOMA, NY)
Open and closed forms are simultaneously presented by means of a series of connected planes that
synthesize into a stereometric image. Influenced by the intersecting and transparent planes of
Analytic Cubism.

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Vladimir Tatlin, “Study for Board No 1” (1917) MOMA, NY

Watercolour, metallic paint, gouache and traces of pencil on paper (MOMA,NY)
43.9 x 29.6 cm

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Vladimir Tatlin, “Monument to the Third International”(1920)

In 1919, Tatlin was commissioned by the Department of Fine Arts within the Commissariat of
Enlightenment, to produce a monument to the Russian Revolution for Lenin’s Plan of Monumental
Propaganda (begun April 1918). He subsequently dedicated his structure to the Third Internationale
(Comintern) which had been ressucitated to promote World Revolution. Displayed in Petrograd in
1920, Tatlin’s model was shown in Moscow in December in the building where the Eighth Congress of
the Soviets was discussing the electrification of Russia.
The model, of wood, stood about 9 meters high. The intended building would have been 400 metres
high, one-third higher than the Eiffel Tower and would have dominated the skyline of Petrograd,
serving as a beacon of Revolution. The framework consisted of 2 spirals supported by a strong
diagonal set at the angle of the Earth’s axis.  The enclosed four enormous glass structures: were
to house the various Departments of the Commintern: a cylinder at the bottom, a pyramid, another
cylinder and a hemisphere, and were set to rotate from the bottom: once a year, once per month,
once per day.  It embodied the vast dynamic machinery of Revolution and was imbued with cosmic
symbolism. The form celebrated contemporary technology, expressed the notion of progress (and
movement (Diagonals/spiral) the glass symbolised the transpareency of government. In his statement,
Tatl;in explained that he had synthesized the arts of painting, sculpture and architecture and
called upon his fellow-artists to follow his example and design new structures for everyday life.
The monument stimulated the birth of Constructivism in 1921.

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Umberto Boccioni - Futurism
•“Unique forms of Continuity in Space” (1913)
•Artists sought to depict speed and dynamic sensation by employing a Divisionist technique, and
subsequently adopted the Cubist technique of intersecting planes linked or descried by a network of
dynamic lines.
•Expresses the fusion of  man +
machine

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Aleksandr A. Vesnin, “Proposal for a Monument to the Third International”, 1921

Gouache on Paper, 53 x 70.5 cm (MOMA,NY)

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Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956) “Oval Hanging Construction”(1921)

Plywood, open construction, partially painted with aluminium paint and wire. 61 x 83.7 x 47 cm,
Museum of Private Collections, Moscow.
One of a series of hanging geometrical forms(Square, circle, hexagon, triangle). All produced from
cutting concentric shapes from one sheet of plywood and then rotating the result in space, thus
evolving from 2 to 3 dimensions. Silver paint gave the works an industrial finish and caught the
light when they were suspended.
The aim was: “the Communistic expression of material structures”. The idea was not to make works of
art in themselves, but to experiment with form in such a way as might lead to new and useful
applications in industry/architecture.

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Alexander M. Rodchenko, (1891-1956) “Production Clothing”(1922)
Rodchenko’s designs sought identification with the idea of the factory, and the arist as a worker
or technocrat, associated with the forward-looking technological agenda of Modernism. The suit was
made by his wife Varvara Stepanova. The pattern pieces were geometric in form rather than
close-fitting, all the edges which were likely to get worn were trimmed in leather.

Painter, graphic artist, photo-artist and designer.
Studied at Art School, Kazan (1910-14) under Feshin and Stroganov Art Industrial Institute, Moscow
(!914-16). From 1913 exhibited in: The Store, OBMOKhU, 5 x 5 = 25,
Decorated Café Pittoreskwith Tatlin and Yakulov (1917) Member f IZO (1918) and INKhUK (1920-21).
President of INKhUK (1921). Taught at VKhUTEMAS (1920-30) Worked for theatre from 1918, designed
advertiisements with Mayakovsky from 1923
Worked for journals LEF (1023-5), Novy LEF (1927-8) and SSSR na Stryke (USSR in Construction)
(1933-41) and for film (1927-30) Pioneer of Soviet Design Awarded four silver medals at
International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, Paris, (1925). Stopped painting in 1921 to focus on
design. Resumed realist pai8nting in 1930s when he received few official commissions.
This version made by Aoi Morishita 2005.
Woven wool, leather trim

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Lyubov Popova, Stage design for “The Magnanimous Cuckold” (1922)
Ink,pen,watercolour, collage on paper. 50 x 69 cm (State Tretyakov Gallery Moscow).
Wood, metal, gouache 58 x 113 x 70 cm (Theatrewissenschaftliche Sammlung, Köln)
Futurist and Constructivist ideas experimented with new types of theatre, integrating machinery and
movement with the actors.
Kinetic elements of turning wheels not only provided the dynamic visual element but also expanded
the emotional aspect of the performance.

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Popova-costume 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:
Lyubov Popova (1889-1924) “Theatrical Costume for Actor N.7”(1921)

Designed for Meyerhold’s “The Magnanimous Cuckold”, Popova’s identical ‘work uniforms’ costume
designs were designed to undermine the notion of individuality of the actors.

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El Lissitzky, “Proun 19D” (1922?), Gesso, oil, collage etc on plywood.
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Lazar Markovich Lissitzky
97.5 x 97.2 cm (MOMA,NY) Katherine S. Dreier Bequest

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El Lissitzky, “Proun Room”, (1923)
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Russian artists were instrumental in promoting utopian ideas and encouraging a process of creative
cooperation in Germany. Lissitzsky’s ‘Proun” paintings (Projects for the Affirmation of the New
Art”, and this Proun Room for the Grosse Berliner Kunstaustellung epitomized the new values:
geometric precision, structural emphasis and transparency, under the guide of science, the
intellectual and moral values of clarity and order, and the possibility of collective human
progress.  “The function of Constructivism was not to adorn life but to organize it.”

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Wassily Kandinsky, “Stage design for Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition (Picture 2). Gnomus”,
c.1928

(1866-1944) Indian ink, watercolour and gouache on paper, 20.6 x 36.1 cm, Paris, Musée nationale
d’art moderne, Paris, bequest of Nina Kandinsky.
Premiered in the Friedrich Theatre, Dessau, 4 April 1928. 16 scenes created from lighting effects
and moving geometric shapes, lines and colours. Only two scenes included dancers: a new kind of
theatre: a:  ‘totally synthetic work of art”.(On the Spiritual in Art”)Transformed one sensation
into another, sound impressions triggering visual colours and shapes

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Gustav Klucis, “Radio Announcer : Maquette for a street kiosk”, (1922)
G.Klucis_03.jpg 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:

Construction in wood, cardboard, paper, paint, string and metal brads 106.5 x 36 x 36 cm Sydney &
Harriet Janis Collection, (MOMA,NY).
One of a series of street-tribune-radio-kiosks, developed in 1922 for the 5th Anniversary of the
Russian Revolution and the 4th Congress of the Comintern.  Designed to be placed at main urban
intersections to relay Lenin’s speech of 1922. Formally the work embodies Constructivist principles
in geometry, construction, function and materials.

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Karel Teige, “Letter H”from “Abeceda” (Alphabet book) by Vitezslav Nezval (1923/6)

Nezva’s sequence of poems was based on the shape of the letters of the alphabet, which were recited
on stage in 1926, accompanied by the avant-garde dancer. Milca Mayerova. For the book, Teige
designed double-page typographical and graphic arrangements for the letters, which included
photographs of Mayerova performaing each letter. Teige claimed he ‘tried to create a “typo-photo”
of a purely abstract and poetic nature, setting into graphic poetry what Nezval set into verbal
poetry in his verse”

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Karel Teige “The Minimum Dwelling”, (1932)

Czech poet and Writer. “The Minimum Dwelling” addressed the issues of social housing. Necessity
should defeat beauty as a first priority. The future lay in collective and anonymous design.
Teige’s book was an important compilation of Modernist housing in the 1930s.
“The minimum dwelling has become the central problem of modern architecture and the battle cry of
today’s architecture, an architecture that lays claim to the revolutionary concept of
constructivism and the functionalism of a general plan, nothing other than a Utopia transformed
into science, and science becoming reality in return”.
Teige advocated a high level of collectivization in housing, replacing family apartments with
bed-sitting rooms for individuals (whether married or single) supported by communal recreation,
dining, childcare and study areas.

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László Moholy-Nagy, “Lightplay: Black/White/Grey”, (1930),

In germany, László Moholy-Nagy produced the ultimate version of a mechanical ballet. At the 1930
Salon des Arts Décoratifs, in Paris, Moholy-Nagy showed a version of his Lichtrequisit einer
Elektronischen Bühne (Light Prop for an electronic stage”, funded by the theatre division of AEG.
It involved a two-minute programme in which the complex mechanism mooved, illuminated by 116
coloured lights in red, blue, green, yellow and white. At the 1900 Paris Exhibition, the dancer
Loie Fuller had performed her famous dances to a sequence of coloured electric light sequences
choreographed by herself. With Moholy-Nagy’s ‘Light Prop” in 1930, the machine had truly replaced
the human performer to present a kind of brilliantly coloured mechanized dance. Here, moving
scenery was produced not by stage sets but by the mesmeric effect of shadows cast by the
pirouetting machine.

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Sergei Eisenstein: “Battleship Potemkin” (1925)

Eisenstein’s second feature was to become not just a major point of ideological conflict between
East and West, Left and Right, But one of the all-time must see classics of film.Decades of
censorship, militant support, countless words analysing its structure and symbolism, its sources
and effects, and thousands of visual quotations have not helped us to see the story behind the
film. Although not exactly historically accurate, Potemkin encompasses the legendary theme of
oppression and rebellion, individual and collective action, and artistically operates with light,
bodies, trivial objects, symbols, faces, movement, and geometrical forms, weaving all into a
magnificent and touching myth.

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Dziga Vertov, “The Man with a Movie Camera” (1929)

Vertov (Denis Kaufman) began his career with newsreels filming the Red Army as it fought during the
Russian Civil War (1918-21), and screening the footage around the remote villages on Agit-trains.
From this experience he formed the group Kino-Glaz (Cine-eye) professing filmic ‘honesty” of
documentary as compared with fiction film; the “perfection” of the cinematic style compared to the
human eye.  Vertov’s masterpiece combines radical politics with revolutionary aesthetics in an
exhilerating experience: Camera and editing, the two components of filmmaking function as equal and
gendered partners: Vertov’s male cameraman (his brother Mikhail Kaufman) records a day in the life
of the modern city - what Vertov calls “life caught unawares”, while his female editor wife
Elizaveta Svilova) cuts and splices the footage into a newformulatrion. Vertov utilises every
conceivable device of film-making: slow motion, animation, multiple images, split-screen, zooms and
reverse zooms, blurring focus and freeze-frames to create a textbook of film technique as well as a
hymn to the new Soviet State.

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Comrades.jpg 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:
Unknown artist: “We shall celebrate Red October with the Rifle and the Hammer” (1920)

Lithograph Poster, 89 x 71.8 cm. Coll. L. Kropivnitsky

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Aleksandr A. Deineka (1899-1969)
•“Girl seated on a chair” (1924)
•Studied in the Vkhutemas, Moscow (1920-5)
•Member and organiser of OST(1925-7)
•Worked in mosaic for Moscow Metro, designed posters and painted panels for Soviet Pavilion in
Paris (1937), Minsk (1938) and Moscow; and monumental sculpture.
A.Deineka.jpg 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:

Oil on Canvas 118 x 72.5 cm; Coll S.N.Gorshin

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Gustav Klucis, “We shall Complete the Plan of Great Works”, (1930)
G.Klucis1930.jpg 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:

Russian State Library, Moscow.

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Gaponenko 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:
Taras Gur’evich Gaponenko (1906-93), “To Mother for the next Feed” (1935)

State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Painted the life in the new collectivised fams, some years after the worst famines and the
slaughter of the Kulaks had begun to be dissipated
Taras Gur’evich Gaponenko (1906-1993 ) was a well recognized Soviet artist, best known for his
genre scenes of village life and later for his canvases showing the glories and sufferings of World
War II.
Painter, graphic artist, teacher, writer on art. Born in the family of a peasant called Gury
Gaponenko in the village of Staraya Zavoron in Smolensk Province (1905). Studied under Pavel
Kuznetsov, Vladimir Favorsky and Konstantin Istomin at the VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN in Moscow (1924–30).
Member of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1928–31) and the Russian Association
of Proletarian Artists (1931–32). Painted Socialist Realist works depicting life on Soviet
collective farms (1929–34), the history of the Communist Party (1940) and the Second World War
(1942–46). Winner of the Stalin Prize (1947). Taught at the Central Studio of the All-Union Central
Council of Trade Unions and the Faculty of Graphic Art of the Vladimir Potemkin Pedagogical
Institute in Moscow (1952–53). Corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1954).
Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1954), People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1968), People’s Artist of the
USSR (1976). Visited Italy (1963). Painted landscapes and still-lifes (1965–80). Died in Moscow and
buried in the village of Staraya Zavoron in Smolensk Region (1993). Contributed to exhibitions
(from 1929), including All Creatures Great and Small: Russian Animal Art (18th to 21st Centuries)
at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2004), Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques
dans la Vie Moderne in Paris (1937, gold medal), New York World’s Fair (1939–40), 500 Anos de Arte
Russa – Dos Ícones à Arte Contemporânea at Oca in the Parque do Ibirapuera in Sâo Paolo (2002) and
a posthumous one-man show in Moscow (1996).

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Samokhvalov 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:
Aleksandr N.Samokhvalov (18984-1971), “Kirov at the Sports Parade (1935)

State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
During the First Five Year Plan realist artists of many tendencies occupied the middle-ground
between the old non-objective avant-0garde artists and the literal realists of AKhRR and the Party
artists; Some of these coalesced around groups or magazines. Ost (The Society of Easel Painters),
formed in Moscow in 1925 was a focus for young, committed and innovatory painters such as Aleksandr
`Deineka,  The group known as The Circle of Leningrad was a kind of opposite number to this and
included artists like Samokhvalov, Much of his work was radical in its depiction of reality and
made no attempt at quasi photographic documentation of reality.
Painter, graphic designer, sculptor, theatre designer.
Studied at Bezhetsk Drawing School under Kostenko, Goldblatt’s School, St Petersburg (1913),
Academy of Arts, Petrograd (1914-18), and SVOMAS/VkhUTEMAS (1920-3) under Kardovsky, Savinsky and
Petrov-Vodkin. From 1917 exhibited at World of Art, Community of Artists, Heat-colour, Circle of
Artists. From 1923 worked on posters, painted ceramics and illustrated books. Designed monuments to
Lenin and Sverdlov. Member of Circle of Artists (1926) and October Group (1930)

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Prokhorov_1939 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:
Prokhorov, “Fascism, Enemy of Culture” (1939)

In the decades immediately following the Second World War, Nikolaus Pevsner’s admonition that “Any
word devoted to Nazi architecture, was a word too many” summarized a reluctance to display, or even
talk about the art of totalitarian regimes. Although the opposing roles of Modernism and Realis had
been established in the debates of the 1930s, the art of both Soviet Russia and Fascist Germany and
Italy tended to be lumped together as Totalitarian, and duly ignored or at least isolated like a
‘contagious’ bacillus. Post Perestroika, ther has been a slow resurgence of interest in analysing,
displaying and reflecting on the culture that was produced at that time.

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G.Klucis_02.jpg 0340BBEA Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:
Gustav Klucis, “Under the Banner of Lenin for Socialist Construction”, (1940)

Russian State Library, Moscow.

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This painter and graphic artist is best known for his World War II poster, “The Motherland Calls’
(1941).  He won numerous Soviet appointments and awards. He said that the expression of Mother
Russia was inspired by the look on his wife’s face when she ran into his studio to tell him that
Germany had attacked the Soviet Union. Outlined against the bright red of the revolution is the
Soviet Army oath.
Irakli Moiseevitch Toidze (1902-1985)
the-motherland-calls.jpg 0003441B Ken's G5HD_01 BC85B848:

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In the decades immediately following the Second World War, Nikolaus Pevsner’s admonition that,
“..Any word devoted to Nazi architecture, was a word too many..”
summarized a reluctance to display, or even talk about the art of totalitarian regimes. Although
the opposing roles of Modernism and Realism had been established in the debates of the 1930s, the
art of both Soviet Russia and Fascist Germany and Italy tended to be lumped together as
‘Totalitarian’, and duly ignored or at least isolated like a  ‘contagious’ bacillus.
Post-Perestroika, there has been a slow resurgence of interest in analysing, displaying and
reflecting on the culture that was produced at that time.
The art of early Soviet Russia is amongst the most lively innovative and stimulating periods in the
history of art…
Conclusion