Category Archive: Literature

USSR by Danish cartoonist Herluf Bidstrup

USSR by Danish cartoonist Herluf Bidstrup

This post is a continuation of the previous article – “What Herluf Bidstrup saw in USSR”, based on the book of Danish communist Herluf Bidstrup (September 10, 1912 – December 26, 1988). The book includes lots of cartoons which capture everyday life of the Soviet people. An honorary member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, laureate of International Lenin Peace Prize (1964) visited the Soviet Union many times. So, the presented gallery of selected images from his book reconstructs the impressions of the author. According to Bidstrup, his cartoons – fleeting, sometimes casual impressions, but they can be interesting for those who want to know more about the world’s first socialist country. “I deeply respect the Soviet people and I bow before them more than before anyone. For 50 years they have created a society which was utopian before, under difficult conditions and thanks to selfless labor and heroic struggle”. Bidstrup, Herluf
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What Herluf Bidstrup saw in USSR

“What Herluf Bidstrup saw in USSR” – the title of the book of cartoons published in 1970s in Moscow. Noteworthy, Danish cartoonist Herluf Bidstrup (September 10, 1912 – December 26, 1988) was a Danish communist, who drew cartoons on foreign policy and social themes. In particular, his work “What Bidstrup saw in the USSR” captures and presents everyday life of the Soviet people in humour genre. The life, which he saw with his own eyes after he had travelled to the Soviet Union. By the way, Herluf Bidstrup, an honorary member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, received the International Lenin Peace Prize in 1964. Books with drawings by Bidstrup published in the USSR in huge editions and were very popular. Bidstrup was a convinced communist and considered in the USSR as a “progressive artist” because in his cartoons he exposed the ulcers and vices of a capitalist society, which in fact are relevant even in today’s state of world capitalism.
Since 1945 he worked in the newspaper of the Communist Party of Denmark “Land og Folk”. Meanwhile, the gallery of selected images from his book reconstructs the most important events of the time, according to the author.
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Soviet journal Young Artist 1936-2016

80 years ago, in July 1936, was published the first issue of the Soviet journal Young Artist. While much was done for the first time in the USSR. In the daily lives appeared new concepts and words that have now become legendary – Turksib, Magnitogorsk, Metrostroy, five-year plan, Komsomol, Artek, Stakhanovite, Chelyuskinskaya heroic epic … This time, reflected by the artist’s brush or the chisel of the sculptor, visibly comes alive before your eyes, when you leaf through the yellowed binders of prewar magazines. On their pages – works of Soviet Art masters Vera Mukhina, Boris Ioganson, Sergei Gerasimov, Alexander Deineka. The achievements of socialist fine arts stand on a par with their time. And the creation of the monthly magazine “Young Artist” – also notable step showing the care of a young Soviet state for the spiritual education of youth.
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Soviet writer S. Mikhalkov, poet, fabulist, playwright, war correspondent, author of the text of the anthem of the USSR, Chairman of the RSFSR Writers’ Union

March 13, 1913 was born Sergey Mikhalkov – Soviet Russian writer, poet, playwright, war correspondent, author of the text of the anthem of the USSR, Chairman of the RSFSR Writers’ Union. Member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1950). The fame to Mikhalkov brought his works for children. Hero of Socialist Labor (1973), winner of the Lenin Prize (1970), three Stalin Prizes of the second degree (1941, 1942, 1950), the State Prize of the RSFSR of Stanislavsky (1977) and the USSR State Prize (1978). Honored Artist of the RSFSR. Member of parliament of 8-11 convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Member of the Great Patriotic War.
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Robert Rozhdestvensky, Bella Akhmadulina, Andrei Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Soviet Poets of Sixties

Soviet Poets of Sixties

Sixties – the subculture of the Soviet intelligentsia, mostly seized generation born roughly between 1925 and 1945. Historical context which formed the views of the “Sixties” were the years of Stalinism, World War II, the results of XX Congress of the CPSU and the era of the “thaw”. The most fortunate generation in the history of the country – Moscow and Leningrad dudes, the taste of life runaway success and aesthetic pleasure, collecting stadiums of listeners and viewers. They were able to impose their style of life on the country and the whole generation. Among them were Soviet poets of the Sixties – Robert Rozhdestvensky, Bella Akhmadulina, Andrei Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Most of them were not revolutionaries, they were not going to destroy the communist regime. They could not even think that’s possible. The task was to humanize it.
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