Искусство РСФСР

Introduction

The fine arts of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, especially of such major centres of public, political and cultural life as Moscow and Leningrad, have made an inestimable contribution to the development of the multinational Soviet culture. It is in these centres that important processes in the development of the fine arts have been most clearly expressed. It was here that a new art was born after the Great October Revolution, that with the consolidation of the new historical social formation its features assumed their most concrete and distinct forms and its living bonds with the progressive culture of the past were forged.

The mass political poster as an art form was engendered by the Revolution itself. Its primary functions were mass political propaganda, active aid to the young Soviet government during the years of Civil War and intervention. It also embodied certain aesthetic, artistic values, specific stylistic features whose development can be traced in the graphic and to some extent the monumental art of later periods. Many posters produced in the first years of the Soviet state are rightly looked upon by the Soviet people as classical, and are on view in the USSR’s largest museums. The posters of D.Moor and V.Deni, and the ROSTA window displays¹ of V.Mayakovsky and M. Cheremnykh are known not only in the Soviet Union, but abroad. Such artists as N. Kochergin, I.Simakov, V. Lebedev, A.Radakov, and A.Brodaty also made great contribution in this sphere. Their posters are not only evidence of an epoch; they were classics which set the ideological and artistic tone for the poster during the periods of socialist construction and the Great Patriotic War of 1941—1945.

Of continual importance for Soviet art was the famous Lenin plan for monumental propaganda. The trends of development of Soviet monumental art, its revolutionary-democratic orientation, its scale, and its role in the aesthetic education of the people took shape in those distant years when the young state was restoring its war-devastated economy. We now refer to the works of those far-off years as the beginnings of the art of socialist realism. One of the most interesting of the surviving examples created in fulfilment of the plan for monumental propaganda was the symbolic-allegorical memorial plaque To Those Who Fell in the Fight for Peace and Brotherhood of Peoples, done in 1918 by S. Konionkov and set up at the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow (it is now in the Russian Museum in Leningrad).

Easel paintings also contributed to the unique character of the art of the early twenties. The work of the artists of the older generation reflected the thoughts and feelings of those who welcomed the Socialist Revolution with deep satisfaction. Some of them expressed their ideas in images that were somewhat naively symbolic, but not devoid of charm. Kustodiyev’s canvas, The Bolshevik (1920), can be considered the most memorable of such works. A different tendency is displayed in A.Rylov’s remarkable landscape The Blue Expanses (1918). This landscape, executed in a consistently realistic tradition, is notable for the outstanding energy of the brushwork and its atmosphere of elation. Petrov-Vodkin expressed his own conception of the birth of the new in the canvas 1918 in Petrograd in which he depicted a young woman as a Madonna. In the fact that he turned to the traditions of Russian icons one clearly sees the artist’s desire to emphasize the lofty, poetic nature of the simple Russian woman.

The originators of Russian Soviet representative art were people whose artistic methods had been formed before 1917, artists brought up on the traditions of progressive Russian art, who were able to appreciate the importance of the Great October Socialist Revolution for their country. It took a rather long time for the social upheaval to be properly understood by them, to be deeply impressed on their minds and reflected in their work. But all the more bright and striking were the new qualities in the work of Russian artists who were linked firmly with Russian pre-revolutionary art. Such diverse painters as M. Nesterov, V.Baksheyev, A. Arkhipov, S.Maliutin, N. Kasatkin, K.Yuon, P. Kuznetsov, P. Konchalovsky, I. Mashkov, A. Lentulov, K. Petrov-Vodkin, and A. Shevchenko, the sculptors N. Andreyev, L. Sherwood, A. Matveyev, I.Shadr and many others passed through a stage of spiritual upsurge, eagerly absorbing the ideas, the needs and the mood of the time.

Russian Soviet art of the twenties and early thirties presented a most complicated, interesting and at times contradictory picture of many converging trends, variously interpreted traditions and clashing styles... There were a number of creative associations of artists at this time. The best known were the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia and The Easel Painters’ Society. Despite the great difference in the creative orientation of these associations, the efforts of all the artists were aimed at portraying faithfully the labour and everyday life of the Soviet people. Many artists not only tackled themes utterly new to art but also advanced audacious artistic solutions, created new aesthetics. The finest of the works by the members of the Easel Painters’ Society, in particular the pictures of A.Deyneka, extolled the beauty and joy of free labour. At the same time attempts were made to convey by means of art the position of man in the world of modem technology. The works of the twenties and thirties anticipated much of what was later to become the content, the spirit of the whole of the Soviet multinational art. One of the most important achievements in painting was the true-to-life portrayal of the man of the new socialist society, the portrayal of his spiritual world. A firm place in the history of Soviet art is occupied by portraits of people typical of the early years of socialist construction in our country, among them The Delegate by G.Riazhsky.

In this period, too, a number of works dedicated to Lenin were executed which have now become classics, among them N. Andreyev’s Leniniana sculptures, paintings by I. Brodsky and A. Gerasimov and first outstanding monuments to Lenin.

The twenties marked the emergence of Soviet thematic painting — historico-revolutionary, battle or genre painting. It was in the twenties that M. Grekov, the doyen of Soviet battle painting, created his best canvases, and A.Deyneka produced his world-famous Defence of Petrograd. Landscape, which had always been of great significance in Russian representative art, occupied a prominent place. Vigour, optimism, a sense of the joy of life—this is the main message of the lyrical landscapes of N.Krymov, V.Baksheyev, K.Yuon, I.Grabar, A.Kuprin, A.Rylov and P. Konchalovsky. In them one can see plastic skill, high technical standards and constructive design — whether of architectural setting or “pure” nature. Optimism and the admiration of the beauty of the material world also imbue many still-life pieces of the period and this is especially noticeable in the still lifes by I. Mashkov.

To the same period belong such classical works of studio sculpture as A. Matveyev’s group The October Revolution, and the composition The Cobblestone Is the Weapon of the Proletariat by I.Shadr. There appeared the first important works by Vera Mukhina, and the remarkable sculptures by A. Golubkina, the most interesting among which is the portrait of Leo Tolstoy.

It was in the twenties that the wood engravings by V.Favorsky and A.Kravchenko gained world fame. Their traditions are continued today throughout Soviet graphic art, in both easel work and book illustrations. The eminent Russian artists who were earlier associated primarily with the Mir Iskusstva (World of Art) group — B.Kustodiyev, D.Kardovsky, M.Dobuzhinsky, A.Benois, V. Konashevich and others — took a most active part in the designing and illustration of mass editions of Russian and foreign classics, and also of Soviet literature.

By the beginning of the thirties the attitude of Soviet artists toward the world around them and their role in the life of their society had been clearly determined. All progressive artists were united by a realization of their common cause with the entire people building a socialist state. During this period the creative unions (of artists, architects, etc.) were formed, while separate groups broke up. This historical stage was recognized officially in the decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks), of April 23, 1932, “On the Rebuilding of Literary and Artistic Organizations”. The theoretical theses on socialist realism as a creative method uniting artists with a diversity of styles on common ideological and creative positions, which were formulated during that period, were of great importance.

The period from 1932 to 1941 (to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945) is celebrated as a time when paintings dealing with themes from revolutionary history and contemporary life predominated. Artists tried to make a deep social analysis of the events of the past, and to bring out the characteristic features of contemporary life in generalized images. The passion for a “documentary” approach to the phenomena of life, to the portrayal of only separate facts gave way to efforts to produce works in which philosophical generalization prevailed. At this time were created the Interrogation of Communists and At an Old Urals Mill by B. Ioganson, Siberian Partisans Take the Oath by S. Gerasimov, Death of a Commissar and 1919. Alarm by Petrov-Vodkin. The thirties saw the appearance of the impressive works of A. Deyneka, S. Chuikov, A. Samokhvalov, Yu. Pimenov, G.Nissky, N.Romadin and many others whose creative methods were developed during the Soviet period. The art of A. Deyneka who was able to catch and convey the pulse beat of his time is especially characteristic of this generation. He succeeded in achieving an expressive plasticity all his own, and his works have an atmosphere of optimism about them (Mother, Future Pilots, The Donbas. Dinner Hour).

Those were the years when M. Nesterov, P. Korin, I.Grabar and P. Konchalovsky, all artists who had attained fame even before the Revolution, produced their best works, among which we should, first of all, mention a gallery of portraits of Soviet intelligentsia, people of active creative thought. The traditions of their art can easily be traced in Russian painting.

The artists of the older generation, whose life and work are connected with their native towns or villages, made an immense contribution to the development of the thematic picture. They turned their attention chiefly to the life of the peasantry, of which they had an excellent knowledge. Among the artists in the autonomous republics of the RSFSR Ts.Sampilov of Buryatia showed himself to be an original master of genre painting.

The upsurge in the life of society found powerful expression in V. Mukhina’s world-famous sculpture Worker and Collective Farm Girl. This sculptural group was a perfect example of the art of the period, a qualitatively new creation of monumental plastic art. In her dynamic image Mukhina embodied the energy, the will, the purposefulness of the people, she expressed the fervent mood of the first two triumphant decades of our state. The great popularity of monumental sculpture in those years was in no small measure due to the work of N.Tomsky, M.Manizer, S.Merkurov and other masters. A distinct style of realistic sculptural portraiture was evolved. Many portraits done in the thirties, and above all those by S. Lebedeva and V. Mukhina, are distinguished for their mature skill, finesse, expressiveness of modelling, and psychological profundity.

The victory of the method of socialist realism in graphic art, first and foremost in book illustration, meant that artists tried to reveal human feelings, to show the people at work, to give a truthful, all-round image of their time. The proclamation of historical truth, of lofty humanistic ideals formed the basis of such cycles as D.Shmarinov’s illustrations to Dostoevsky’s writings and to Alexey Tolstoy’s novel Peter the Great, E. Kibrik’s lithographs for Romain Rolland’s Colas Breugnon and Charles de Coster’s Tyll Eulenspiegel; the Kukryniksy’s black water-colours for the stories of Anton Chekhov, and the drawings by A. Pakhomov for Nekrasov’s Frost the Red-Nosed.

The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 did not halt the development of Soviet art. A heightened sense of patriotism imbues the art of this period. Together with the rest of the people artists participated in the fight against the fascist invaders. Some of them went to the front, where they recorded war episodes, while others worked on the staff of military newspapers or at the workshops producing the TASS window displays.

Poster art was immensely important during the war. The very day after the treacherous attack by the nazi invaders on the Soviet Union the poster Destroy the Enemy without Mercy! appeared in the streets. TASS windows were produced in many cities. They told people about military events, they appealed to them to defend their Socialist Motherland, and they extolled the heroic deeds of soldiers. In besieged Leningrad many artists — drawers, sculptors and painters — turned to the art of the poster. “The Fighting Pencil” group started the regular production of posters. Posters by V. Serov, A. Kazantsev, I.Serebriany, and V.Pinchuk attained fame, as did the graphic sheets by V.Kurdov, G.Petrov, N.Tyrsa, V.Lebedev and many other artists working in Leningrad. Dramatic posters with a strong heroic note were executed by V. Ivanov, A.Kokorekin, D.Shma-rinov, V.Koretsky and others.

The war- and post-war years witnessed the creation of a number of outstanding works of easel painting, among them: Mother of a Partisan by S. Gerasimov, Nazi Plane Flew by by A. Plastov, the Alexander Nevsky triptych by P. Korin, The Defence of Sevastopol by A.Deyneka, Warrior-Liberator by Ye. Vuchetich, The End by the Kukryniksy, and also A. Pakhomov’s lithographs devoted to the heroic defence of Leningrad and the paintings of V. Serov, I. Serebriany, Yu. Neprintsev, A. Laktionov, A. Mylnikov, the sculptural portraits of war heroes by Mukhina, Ye. Vuchetich and N.Tomsky.

The patriotic upsurge of the Soviet people, their confidence in final victory over the enemy found interesting reflection in the pictures devoted to Russia’s heroic past.

The victorious conclusion of the Great Patriotic War set new tasks before the artists. In the first post-war decade many works of a high artistic standard were produced in every genre and every form of figurative art. In the main these achievements were in the field of genre painting. There were Plastov’s superb paintings of collective farm life (Tractor Drivers at Supper, Hay-making, Reaping) or the paintings by S.Chuikov (Kirghiz Suite). Yet the work of some painters showed

a tendency towards pomposity, the use of hackneyed forms, towards a naturalism that was definitely detrimental to the general development of art, but was unable to halt it. After the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU socialist democracy and state organization reached a higher stage of development, thus opening up great possibilities for creative endeavour, for bold questing. Over the last few decades the thematic boundaries of all kinds of art have been broadened considerably, and art has been invaded by life in every one of its aspects. The “geography” of the subject has broadened, which was mainly due to a marked flourishing of art in the regions and autonomous republics of the RSFSR: Tataria, Bashkiria, Yakutia, Buryatia, North Ossetia, Karelia, etc. Strong creative groups of local artists have emerged, bringing their own specific features to the portrayal of life.

An important exhibition of works by artists from the autonomous republics of the RSFSR was held in Moscow in 1971. It gave the general public an opportunity to see the firm and fruitful ties of Soviet art and Russian artistic culture, the pictorial, graphic, and plastic traditions of the art schools of Moscow and Leningrad. These ties are very real, for many artists received their training at the art schools in Moscow and Leningrad. The atmosphere of creative questing characteristic of Russian Soviet painting and graphic art of the last decade has been of great importance for the development of art in the autonomous republics of the RSFSR. The artists in the republics freely transform the rich impressions derived from the life around them into works of art. Creative handling of the material, a wealth of emotional tones, imaginative solutions, and specific colour and plastic features are typical of their work. That is why there are grounds now for speaking not only of the good professional standards attained in the work of many artists, but, in a number of cases, also of the emergence of local national schools. The original, striking paintings of such talented and well-known Bashkir artists as A.Lutfullin, B.Domashnikov, A.Burziantsev and A.Sitdikov should be mentioned alongside the graphic works from Yakutia, represented by various series done by V. Vasilyev, A.Munkhalov, E.Sivtsev and L.Neofitov. Karelia has produced a strong team of artists: there are numerous sculptural portraits by L.Lankinen, thematic paintings by F.Nieminen, landscapes by S.Yuntunen and B.Pomortsev, all of a mature professional standard, with a precise, heightened feeling of our time and the character of our contemporaries. These features testify to the maturity of the creative collective of artists in the autonomous republics of the RSFSR, to its strong ties with the whole of Soviet culture and national tradition. The events of our day, of the history of the people, particular traits of human characters, specific features of daily life, of the countryside, are demonstrated in every painting, always with different poetic insight. Artists of the autonomous republics always aim at conveying the ideals of socialist society.

The broadening of thematic scope in the work of Russian artists is accompanied by a constant striving for enrichment of artistic form, by a search for expressive plasticity. An important factor in this process is that artists draw on the traditions of Russian, Soviet and world art, on early Russian painting, on the art of the early twentieth century with its questing for pictorial and constructive form, on the art of profound content and grandeur of form, on the art of the Renaissance masters. The younger generation of artists is attracted to the work of famous Soviet masters, above all, perhaps, to the work of Petrov-Vodkin. They also display a pronounced interest towards folk art, and towards the traditional, brightly coloured popular print or lubok in particular. The perfection of professional skill is becoming one of the most important tasks confronting Russian artists, who intensively search for an art form that will help establish great aesthetic values in art and facilitate the true-to-life portrayal of the very essence of the past and of the present. The striving of the artist for broad philosophical generalization, his speculations on his time and his contemporaries, on history and on the place and role of man in the world around him leads to the creation of works significant in content and form. That is why the dominant position is occupied by the thematic painting and in graphic art by the thematic series, i. e. the genres which allow the artist to show the life on a very broad scale.

The emergence of outstanding artists over the last few decades shows most convincingly what wide possibilities are inherent in the method of socialist realism, which is not bound by narrow dogmas but presupposes great variety in stylistic aspiration and creative manner. The end of the fifties and the sixties saw a renewed flourishing of the art of A.Deyneka, S. Gerasimov, A. Plastov and P. Korin. In the same period a whole galaxy of artists attained fame, whose work bore the imprint of the artist’s personal responsibility to his time, his social conscience. They turned to significant themes from the past and present, they tackled important social, moral and aesthetic problems. One of them, G.Korzhev, has created the monumental triptych Communists, and the suite Scorched by the Fire of War. Korzhev’s main aim is to show people strong in character at some tense, dramatic or tragic moments in the history. There is no idealization in his canvases, they present the stem truth, which ennobles the heart of man.

In the late 50s and early 60s the Russian school of painting was distinguished by a tendency towards austere romanticism. Many young painters, sculptors and graphic artists were drawn to the great construction projects in Siberia, to the toil of spidermen, geologists, the fishermen of the North and the geological prospectors of the Arctic. In the paintings of P. Nikonov, V. Popkov, A. and P.Smolin, and P.Ossovsky, and in graphic series we see the romanticism of daily work. The creations of these artists have some points in common — monumentality of pictorial and compositional manner and austerity of colour range.

Many canvases devoted to history, to the early years of the revolutionary movement in Russia and to the Civil War also have an atmosphere of romanticism. In E.Moiseenko’s paintings, original and complex, one feels the breath of the stormy events of the past.

Genre pictures which reveal the people’s conceptions of beauty, the dignity of human personality and the value of life have lately acquired importance. Among Soviet genre painters are V. Ivanov, V. Popkov, D.Zhilinsky, A. and S.Tkachiov and Yu.Kugach, each of whom has his own specific approach.

All the artists of the Russian Federation show an unfading interest in traditional lyrical landscape. Sergey Gerasimov whose works in this particular genre have invariably attracted attention thanks to their lucid lyricism, their love of nature, their ability to convey precisely and delicately the unique quality of those parts of Russia which are near and dear to him, has been responsible for the development of an entire galaxy of landscape painters. Daring colour solutions and heightened emotional expressiveness are to be found in the landscapes of V.Stozharov, I. Sorokin, and A.Tutunov. The landscapes of B.Domashnikov, V.Yukin and S.Yuntunen are always pleasing to the eye.

Work on the portrayal of Lenin has always occupied a place of its own in Soviet art, and the artists of the RSFSR have made a considerable contribution to Soviet Leniniana. Today artists are seeking solutions in which the great leader is seen with the people, with his comrades of the revolution, in the thick of events. The common tasks and aspirations do not rule out a variety of creative solutions. On the one hand, there are the works of V. Serov, who chose to treat his subject as genre scenes (for example, his Peasant Delegates with Lenin), on the other, the monumental canvas 1918 by G.Mosin and M.Brusilovsky; poles apart in pictorial and compositional characteristics and emotional impact is the expressive and dynamic series of linocuts of D.Bisti for V.Mayakovsky’s poem V.I.Lenin; or the compositionally complex, lively etchings done by V. Petrova and L. Petrov, striking in their graphic effects and profound as portrayals of individual characters — from the series of illustrations for John Reed’s Ten Days That Shook the World to the 1917 series. A.Mylnikov has created a large-scale panel-curtain with a portrait of Lenin for the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.

The centenary of Lenin’s birth inspired many sculptors to create a number of monuments to the leader of the proletariat — monuments that have been erected in the Soviet Union and abroad (among them one in Leningrad, designed by M. Anikushin, and the other in Berlin, designed by N.Tomsky).

The large-scale plastic art has attained extraordinarily wide scope lately. Memorials and monumental sculptures have appeared in many cities in Russia and abroad, devoted to outstanding statesmen, scientists and artists, to heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, to victims of nazism and the events of the Civil War.The solution of the problem of the large-scale complex, of a synthesis of fine arts in monumental ensembles is of great importance.

A number of monumental sculptures have been created by N.Tomsky, Ye. Vuchetich, V.Tsigal, L.Kerbel, A.Faydysh, V. Isayeva, L.Golovnitsky, etc. Studio sculpture continues to develop. Some of the finest examples in this field have been executed by M. Anikushin, L.Lankinen, Yu. Alexandrov, T.Sokolova and V.Tsigal. The sculptures of L.Kremneva, Yu.Chernov and the typically lyrical compositions of Ye. Belashova, A.Pologova and O.Komov are devoted to the working people.

A breadth of conception and a striving for a poetic vision of life distinguish the genre of easel graphic works. In 1961 V.Favorsky created the propaganda engraving We Must Secure Disarmament, and shortly before that Birds in Flight, one of the most poetic pieces in Russian graphic art. This approach to life, to the problems of our time symbolizes the many-faceted view of the world, of the tasks of art, which is characteristic of the Russian graphic school.

At the end of the fifties and the sixties prints gained great popularity. The flourishing of this genre is above all connected with the work of the pupils and followers of Favorsky, among them the Moscow artists: I. Golitsyn, G. Zakharov, A. Borodin, and K. Nazarov; the Leningraders A. Ushin and V. Vetrogonsky; and artists from the autonomous republics, including A.Sakharovskaya and D.Briukhanov. Their works show certain common stylistic features: an abundance of sharply outlined silhouettes, of dramatic contrasts of black and white and striking compositional schemes. The thematic series of these artists are not merely examples of graphic skill, they are portrayals of life, always seen from an individual point of view, with the stress on the depth, profundity and richness of life. They depict landscapes of the Far North and such regions as Buryatia, Yakutia and the Chuckchee peninsula, and also the life of Moscow, the life of intelligentsia, the life of peasants and workers.

Over the last few years the etching has become as popular as the linocut. Many artists also remain faithful to such techniques as drawing, water-colour and gouache. Water-colours by N. Volkov, V. Alfeyevsky, and A. Kokorin show lyrical townscapes of Moscow, its new and old districts, and other cities or towns of the Soviet Union.

The graphic series by L.Soyfertis devoted to sporting events and the Moscow Metro are notable for their original manner of execution which combines light sophistication with a sharp, almost grotesque element.

The series of easel graphic works by V.Tsigal and N.Ponomariov reflect the artists’ meditations about the people, their work, and their links with nature. Ponomariov’s Vietnam series is interesting not only because of his “discovery” of new motifs, but primarily because of his concern for the life of people fighting for their country’s freedom.

Black-and-white book illustrations extend to all kinds of literature — Russian and world classics, Soviet multinational literature, epic and popular science literature; a large group of illustrators also work for literary periodicals. Book illustrators in Moscow and Leningrad are known for their high standards of book design and illustration, and their view of the book as an integral artistic whole. V.Favorsky continued to work in Moscow to the very end of his life. A. Goncharov, S.Pozharsky, S.Telingater, I. Fomina, E.Burgunker, D.Bisti, and B. Markevich who concentrated mainly on lino- and woodcuts have greatly contributed to book design and illustration. Whole series of book illustrations of great interest have been executed by D.Shmarinov, N. Kuzmin, B.Prorokov, Ye. Kibrik, V.Goriayev, V. Minayev, etc. Among Leningrad artists we should mention V.Konashevich, A. Pakhomov, G.Yepifanov, Ye.Charushin, and Yu. Vasnetsov. The Leningrad school of graphic art has always been famous for children’s books. A pioneer in this field, V. Lebedev developed in a truly creative way the principles of design and illustration of books for the youngest children. He and his pupils have collaborated to good effect with well-known Soviet writers and poets. Lebedev and his pupils have illustrated books by S. Marshak and K. Chukovsky, which have become classics in their own field and attained world fame. These books are constantly being reprinted, they do not lose their aesthetic value as years go by, and they enjoy popularity with every new generation of the readers. Soviet book illustration has achieved international recognition, and many publications have been awarded prizes of various kinds at international competitions.

The great family of Russian artists is increasing year by year. In all regional centres of the republic there are local creative branches of the Artists’ Union of the RSFSR. All kinds of art are developing everywhere. The artists of Russia are with honour preserving and enriching the traditions which had been formed during the over fifty years’ existence of the Soviet state. An active and sincere response to the events in the public life of the country at every stage of its history, the assertion of the lofty human ideals of communist society have always been and remain the most characteristic features of Russian art. Lofty civic feelings, a sense of responsibility, the perfection of professional skill and respect for the great traditions of the past in Russian and world art have always been the basis for the creative endeavours of Soviet artists. These fundamental qualities are relayed from one generation of artists to another.