Soviet Art

In Europe, as in all other areas of our planet, we want peace, a lasting peace. LI Brezhnev. 1980. Soviet poster artist Mikhail Getman

Soviet poster artist Mikhail Getman
Soviet artist of social and political posters Mikhail Anatolievich Getman was born in Zhitomir in 1947. After high school, he went to Moscow and entered the Moscow State Art Institute named after Surikov. In 1976 he graduated from the institute, workshop of posters. His teachers were Soviet artists N. Ponomarev and M. Savostyuk. While still a student at the institute, Mikhail works at the publishing house “Poster” (1974). At the same period, he began participating in all-Union and republican exhibitions of Soviet Art. In addition to political and social posters, he was involved in creating theater posters (1970-1980-s). However, with the beginning of perestroika, the artist emigrated to the United States (end of 1980s). Posters of Mikhail Getman decorated magazines published in the USSR, for instance, “Youth”, Soviet Artist, Smena, etc., and now they are are available in Moscow in the Russian State Library. His major works include: “International Children’s Day” (1977), “Great Lenin illuminated our path” (1979), “Five-Year Plan effectiveness and quality – the enthusiasm and creativity of the young” (1979), and some more.
Read more »

Xenia reads tale to dolls (daughter of the artist). 1950. Soviet graphic artist Igor Ivanovich Yershov (7 November, 1916 – 6 February, 1985)

Soviet graphic artist Igor Ivanovich Yershov (7 November, 1916 – 6 February, 1985) – member of the USSR Union of artists. His father was an outstanding opera singer Ivan Yershov, and his mother Sofia – a singer and vocal teacher. In 1947, Igor Yershov graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts named after I. Repin. At first, he studied first at the fine art department, in the workshop of I. Brodsky, and then moved to graphic department, where his teachers were Shilingovsky, Zaitsev, I. Bilibin and K. Rudakov. His Diploma work were later illustrations to “The Bronze Horseman”. For this work, published in academic collected works of AS Pushkin, he was admitted to the USSR Union of Artists.
Read more »

USSR home interior in painting. Soviet Artist Agafya Belaya (1975). In the morning

1950-1980 USSR home interior in painting of Soviet artists

Soviet era interior and way of life of the fifties-eighties of the 20th century, depicted in the paintings of Soviet artists, like magic window, show our Soviet past. Our memory will forever cherish the atmosphere, life, and details of the house where we were born, spent our childhood and youth. Rooms of our grandparents, our parents’ apartment, favorite garden (dacha), where summer was eternal and we wanted to laugh from the children’s happiness. For born in the USSR, they are unforgettable images of native homes, where there was always light, comfort, and hospitality. To this house you always want to come back.
Read more »

The morning of our homeland. 1949. Oil Painting by Soviet socialist realism artist Fyodor Shurpin. 27 September, 1904 (Smolensk region) – 9 January, 1972 (Moscow)

According to the known legend, Stalin, at the Soviet Art exhibition called his son Vasily to this picture and said, “Do you think you’re Stalin, or you think I am Stalin?!?!” And he pointed to the canvas: “No, here is Stalin.”
“The morning of our homeland” 1949 oil painting of a little-known Soviet socialist realism artist Fyodor Shurpin (1904-1972), depicting Joseph Stalin. The work on the painting to the 70th anniversary of Stalin took place in 1946-1948. After the exposure of the personality cult of Stalin, the painting was called “The last train has left.” In the foreground – pensive Stalin in a white paramilitary jacket, without orders, with the coat on his arm. Behind the leader – stretching beyond the horizon the vast expanses of the motherland with grace collective farm fields, high-voltage transmission masts, smoking chimneys of factories in the industrial cities. And towering over the whole Soviet country the figure of Stalin – “Great Leader, wise and caring.”
Read more »

A pioneer girl decorating Soviet New Year tree. Soviet New Year greeting cards history

Soviet New Year greeting cards history

How celebrated New Year’s Day in the USSR? Well, approximately the same way as in modern Russia.
First of all, it should be noted that neither in Soviet times, nor in modern Russia the tree, the holiday, and the whole celebration can be called “Christmas”. Instead, it’s always been a New Year’s Day, New Year tree and New Year holidays. And Christmas in the USSR, as well as in modern Russia, is celebrated on January 7, very modestly, and after the grandiosely and noisy celebration of New Year’s day holidays. But in Soviet history was the period covering roughly about two decades, when the traditional New Year tree, Father Frost (Ded Moroz) and Snowmaiden (Snegurochka) weren’t encouraged, as if did not exist at all. The same goes for Christmas cards, that is, in early 1920s – 1930s they were not printed. It all started December 27, 1935 when four senior leaders headed by Stalin were traveling in a car inspecting New Year’s Moscow.
Read more »

Soviet artist Pyotr Petrovich Litvinsky (November 7, 1927 – July 8, 2009). Survived (Children of besieged Leningrad, WWII). 1961

Soviet artist Pyotr Petrovich Litvinsky (November 7, 1927 – July 8, 2009) – painter and teacher, member of the Leningrad Union of Artists of the RSFSR (1960), Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1996). He taught painting and drawing at the Higher School of Industrial Art named after Vera Mukhina (1962-79), and at the Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute of Herzen (1979-84), a professor at the Moscow State Academic Art Institute of Surikov (1984-86) of the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow (1987, 1989 Vice-Rector). Painted battle, genre and historical compositions, landscapes, portraits, and still-lifes. Since 1952, participated in exhibitions.
Read more »

The Ulyanovs (Vladimir Lenin and Nadezhda Krupskaya). 1970. Painting by Soviet artist Viktor Nikolaevich Pegov (born November 6, 1938)

Soviet artist Viktor Nikolaevich Pegov – Member of the USSR Union of Artists (1970), Honored Worker of Culture of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1988), and Honored Worker of Culture of Russia (2011).
Victor Pegov was born in the village of Russian Yurmash, Bashkir ASSR, November 6, 1938. At the age of 15 years, Victor moved to Ufa, and entered the workshop of teacher GV Ogorodnikov at the Palace of Culture “Udarnik” of engine plant. There he learned the basics of art. Then he studied at the Kazan Art School. Since 1963 is a member of the republican, zonal, regional, national and international exhibitions of Soviet Art. Since 1964 he has taught at the Ufa school of arts. In 1980 he graduated from the art department of the Chuvash State Pedagogical Institute named after IY Yakovlev.
Read more »