DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2023.4.39840

Abstract: The object of the study is the Soviet practice of transferring the ideology of the "right-wing threat", widely spread at the turn of the 1920s–1930s, into the space of fine art. This concept, which arose thanks to Stalin's purposeful efforts, was his effective weapon in the fight against the opposition. It was assumed that its existence would be limited by the factional struggle in the CPSU(b). However, the logic of public life in the country has made it inevitable that a purely political ideologeme will be transferred to all areas of culture. Based on the material of art magazines, newspapers, yearbooks published from 1929 to 1932, the chronology, main stages and features of the adaptation of the ideologeme in relation to fine art are considered for the first time. It is shown that accusations of belonging to the "right opposition", "right deviation" were made not only to creative associations or to individual artists, but also in relation to genres of fine art (for example, to still life and landscape). Manifestations of bourgeoisness were found both in the content of the works and in their form. It is revealed that the initial publications contained sincere attempts to understand what the "right threat" in art is, how its manifestations in this area can be determined. However, very soon such attempts were almost completely abandoned, and the phrase "right-wing threat" turned into a formal cliche, a political label.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2022.1.37425

Abstract: This article is first to conduct a comparative analysis of the biographies of two prominent Soviet painters – A. M. Gerasimov and S. V. Gerasimov. Emphasis is placed on the vectors and stages of the institutional biography of the artists, rather than their creative and personal life. People of the same generation, same education, virtually same life length, they were inscribed into a single system of cultural institutions, sought to achieve career success as the Soviet painters. At the same time, Aleksandr Gerasimov became the personification of the Stalinist era in art, having received all the highest posts and awards in the country, while Sergei Gerasimov throughout the 1930s – 1950s, although was officially recognized as a talented master, caused suspicions among the country’s leadership due to "proclivity for formalism". Thus, being a fairly successful artist, pedagogue and administrator, he was significantly inferior to his namesake in hierarchical ranking. A long life (both masters lived for about 80 years) allows considering the variations of the fate of the “elite” Soviet painters at the turn of eras. The “Thaw” was the time of “overthrow” of one artist and the “rise” of the other. Previous tremendous career achievements of Aleksandr Gerasimov were interpreted as a reflection of unscrupulousness of the painter, and less grandiose successes of Sergei Gerasimov were perceived as a sign of his behavioral reservedness. The fates of two outstanding Soviet painters demonstrate the invariants of institutional biography of the Soviet artist. Different proportions of talent, conformism, ambitions, and strive to achieve material wealth became the key components that led to different formulas for career success and different perception of such success by the contemporaries.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2020.1.31908

Abstract: In 1939 and 1949 the museums and exhibit halls of the large and small Soviet cities held dozens of art exhibitions dedicated to the anniversaries of Stalin. Strictly aligned to the text of his canonized biography, they became an important element of jubilee celebrations, and simultaneously, a distinct culmination of visual representations of the chieftain, overcrowding the public space of every city of the country. The exhibitions resumed the results and outlined the future paths of development of the pictorial art of Staliniana. The article makes an attempt to review the common grounds the united the anniversary expositions, regardless their scale, presentability and venue. Special attention is given to correlation between verbal and visual texts, logics of structuring of a biographical narrative, methods of organization of dialogue with the audience, as well as forms of “dictate” over the creative process of Soviet artists. The source for this research became an extensive body of documents: brochures, catalogues, guides that accompanied such exhibitions and reflected their concept, logics, structure and communication objectives.  

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2019.12.31184

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the once-prominent, but nearly forgotten these days, Soviet graphic artist Konstantin Ivanovich Finogenov. His works of the 1940’s are viewed as a vivid example of coexistence of the two main strategies used by the Soviet authors in referring to the theme of the Great Patriotic War. One suggested visualization of the events, facts and characters seen by the artist firsthand on the front line. The other – represented an ideological construct not based on the personal visual impressions. Usually, the second strategy was aimed at creation of the image of leader: Stalin-chieftain and strategist surrounded by the closest comrades. The author underlines not only the thematic, but also the conceptual difference in these two strategies. The shift from depicting soldiers towards depicting the leaders entailed the genre, temporal, compositions, and intonation transformations of the image of war. The Soviet artists of the 1940’s depicted soldiers “in the present”, implying that their descendants would make a place form them in history, for whom the artist created the necessary documentary testimonies. The leader has already existed in history. The artist captured the fact of recognition by the contemporaries of his historical status.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2019.12.31892

Abstract: Mythologem of the Siberian exile and its role within the structure of national mentality for the past decades is a subject of meticulous research of culturologists, philosophers and literary historians. However, the problem of visual representations of such mythologem, which supposedly in the conditions of modern “visual turn” should attract greater attention of the humanities scholars, it still remains outside of scientific research. The author is firs to determine and align the chronological series of the landmark and prominent  works of the national art capturing the sesquicentennial period of visual documentation of the Siberian servitude and exile, which allows tracing the pivotal transformations of the created visual images at various stages of national history. The study carries culturological character, as it is structured on determination and analysis of the common trends and patterns of the indicated process, claiming no detailed art review of separate compositions. The artworks that became the sources for this research are examined as visual demonstration of the existing within Russian society representations on Siberian exile, and simultaneously, as the way of their formation and establishment. The author outlines parallel between the “known from firsthand experience” – structured on the basis of the existing myths, and emotions – informative, which is related to temporal parameters and level of criticism of the works.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2018.10.26741

Abstract: Throughout the 1920 - 1950s the death and funerals of the leader had been the event under the focused event of the Soviet propaganda. While the funeral ritual was made up really fast and later was repeated with several changes, the art representations of the funerals had been significantly changing over time. The Soviet visual art constantly searched for icognographic schemes that would convey messages and values of that important ceremonial of the national level. The climax of that process was the delivery of the Stalin's prize to the artist A. Gerasimov for his painting 'Stalin by A. Zhdanov's Coffin' (1948). The process of iconographical transformations of the plot can be seen as the process of the canon's development when all the needless was eliminated and the main was highlighted. The documentary narration genre was replaced with the visually readable symbol. In this research Rutsinskaya analyzes the aforesaid process based on the analysis of famous Soviet artwork. 

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2017.3.23149

Abstract: By the mid 30s of the XX century the Soviet art developed a canonical image of Stalin. A significant part of paintings with Stalin’s depiction illustrated the Soviet leader with nature or urban background. Their appearance was not accidental or arbitrary. Geographic images were not so much aesthetic as an ideological burden, and therefore were subject to control and guidance. To study this problematic, the now-forgotten works of both well-known and completely unknown authors are involved. The article examines the methods and forms of interpretation of geographical space on the canvases of Soviet artists, their transformation in time, their dependence on ideology and propaganda tasks, as well as their ability to reflect mass stereotypes about the "space in which the leader lives."

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2016.5.20465

Abstract: In the early Christian and medieval art of Europe the Old Testament's story of the Fall was one of the most famous. Its iconography developed already in the III-IVth centuries. The composition was fixed and excluded any inessential elements. Every small detail was important and allowed an adequate interpretation and visualization of the biblical text. That being said, the absence of a common view when identifying and depicting such important parts of the plot as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and its «forbidden fruit» seems odd. The author of the article analyzes basic depiction methods of the «forbidden fruit» that were widely used in European painting of the III-XIIIth centuries. The classification proposed by the author includes three types of images that can be characterized in the following way: 1) absence of a visual fixation on fruit (the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is either portrayed without any fruit or the fruit is indistinguishable and unidentifiable); 2) attempt to depict something abstract, a fruit that does not exist or is unknown to mankind (that is to say – an attempt to find a visual equivalent of the biblical definition of fruit); 3) identification of the "forbidden fruit" with the fruit that exists in reality. The author supports her iconographic analysis of a wide range of paintings by appealing to apocryphal texts, theological treatises, spoken and written legends. Despite the fact that iconography of the Fall had been already developed in the early Christian period, the common method of depicting the 'forbidden fruit' was not developed throughout the first centuries of European art. Following the text of Genesis, Bible interpretations and commentaries and oral traditions, the art of that time offered the answers not only to the questions about the image or the name of the «forbidden fruit» but also about its meaning and symbolism. They can be interpreted as a reflection of the socio-cultural context of the era, belief systems and values of a particular region of Western Europe in a particular historical period.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2016.4.17714

Abstract: For many years Britain has been associated with tea. In spite of being a national symbol of the UK, tea has always been an imported drink, therefore it has been strongly connected to the culture of the country of its origin. The process of tea assimilation in Britain took a long time. It was during the Victorian Era of British history when Eastern (Chinese) allusions were removed from a process of tea consumption. National painting played a significant role in the evolution of tea image. It shaped «visual codes» of British tea and proliferated the image of tea as a symbol of contemporary life. The subject of the research is the 'tea plots' in English genre painting of the middle and the second half of the XIXth century. Their increasing popularity and commonness in the aforesaid period allow to view art as an important instrument of the 'civilizational adoption' of tea by the British culture. Through creating a recognizable visual image of the English tea party with all its social, genre and gender peculiarities, pieces of artwork participated in the process of turning the imported product into the national symbol of the country. The analysis of paintings offered by the author of the article involves not only studying peculiarities of the world of objects depicted therein, historically and culturally determined details of the tea party and etiquette but also defining national stereotypes, norms and values behind them. The author appeals to pictorial sources which allows to extend the basis of the research and study the visual codes, visual stereotypes and visual attitudes to everyday life. Despite the fact that national gastronomical practices have recently attracted many scientists, this topic is studied for the first time in Russian historiography.