Soviet Art

Young Pioneer organization of the USSR. Pioneer Honor guard at the rally of Komsomol. Moscow. Photo by S. Korshunov. 1929

May 19, 1922 – Day of the Young Pioneer organization of the USSR – Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization. In 1929 Soviet magazine “Screen” published a photograph of S. Korshunov – Pioneer honorary guard at the rally of Komsomol at Red Presnya. At the podium – the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR – “all-union elder” Mikhail Kalinin. Next to him stands Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky. These were difficult years: the country was just beginning to rise after the Civil War. Still, the pioneers tried to look neat in their uniform. And what complete calm determination, faith, kindness on the guy’s face! Assistant-bearer, boy on the left, seems to be quite an adult. Maybe he is really older than the others – later came to school, but is now proud of his title. Or life forced him to grow up. After all, many of them will be Spain and Khalkhin Gol and in 1941 this generation will die in the fights against Hitler’s hordes, and those who survive – will drive them to Berlin …
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White Lily of Stalingrad Lydia Litvyak (18.08.1921 – 01.08.1943)

White Lily of Stalingrad Lydia Litvyak

This young blonde girl – the most productive fighter aviator in history. She has 16 downed aircrafts (four of them in a group). Soviet pilot Lydia Litvyak was a threat for Luftwaffe fighting in Stalingrad and Rostov. On the hood of her fighter was painted white lily, that’s why she was called the “White lily of Stalingrad.” Lydia (Lily) Litvyak was born in Moscow on August 18, 1921. Since the age of 14 years she worked at the Aero Club. At age of 15 she had already made her first solo flight. After Kherson aviation school of pilot instructors she worked in Kalinin. She trained 45 pilots.
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Soviet political-propaganda poster. L. Nepomnyashchy. Moscow – the capital of the Olympic Games – 80. 1979

Soviet political-propaganda poster
The history of the Soviet state in the poster as the most widespread and popular form of visual art – known to everyone. People in the USSR met it everywhere, in the shops of factories, collective farms, institutions, schools, building sites, on the streets of towns and villages. Soviet poster is descended from the best examples of Russian graphic art. In it, as in a mirror, reflected life. Truly, no appreciable moment passed by a poster artist. That is why it can’t be argued that the poster captured the history of the USSR, its visual image.
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Young Soviet artists painting Friendship. Andrey Multansky 12 years old. Shepherd. Gouache

Young Soviet artists painting Friendship

‘Young artist’ – a monthly magazine of the Union of Artists of the USSR, the Academy of Arts of the USSR, the Central Committee of the Young Communist League, founded in July 1936. The magazine introduced its readers with the best works of world and national classics, taught an understanding of professional subtleties, held various competitions of children’s drawings. The 1991 art contest, the “Colors of friendship” was a special, and the last – it was the year of the collapse of Soviet Union. Under the terms of the competition were taken pictures from all the republics of the USSR and edges, made in different techniques, as well as works of decorative – applied art. At the end of the competition were organized exhibitions in Moscow, cities of the Soviet Union and abroad. The participants were awarded diplomas, winners – prizes. In the competition could participate young artists aged from 6 to 16 years. Political ideals can fade, economic concepts can crumble, but moral values ​​are eternal. Love, friendship, good human relationship are alive and strong ties bind people of different nationalities. Especially children.
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Revolutionary Era First Soviet toys. Pilot. Aircraft. Board Game ‘Following the path of heroes’. 1930s

Revolutionary Era First Soviet toys

Immediately after the revolution, the need for a toy has become a requirement of life. But in the country, fighting on the front, and then selflessly restoring the destroyed economy, there were not, and could not be companies that produced such products. It is no coincidence one of the first government regulations partially permitted free trade in toys, among other handicrafts. In the 1920s and even the 30s in different parts of the USSR, especially in the provinces, the most common and affordable remained homemade toy. It was made for and by the children themselves, as well as single artisans, selling their simple goods in the markets and fairs. Living in the distant cities and villages, they kept folk art features in their handmade products.
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Soviet Anti-Alcohol Poster. No!

Soviet Anti-Alcohol Poster
The struggle with alcoholism began with the arrival of Soviet power. In December 1917, the Soviet government extended the ban on the sale of vodka. December 19, 1919 the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a decree signed by Lenin – “On the Prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcohol, spirits and alcohol-containing substances on territory of the country”, providing stricter measures: at least 5 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.
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The hostess. 1970. Oil. Soviet artist Yuri Kugach

Soviet artist Yuri Kugach (1917–2013) – Winner of the Stalin Prize of the second degree (1950), People’s Artist of the USSR (1977), member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1975). In 1936 he graduated from Moscow art school of memory of 1905, in 1942 – the Moscow State Academy of Fine Arts named after Surikov; in 1945 – post-graduate studies. In 1948-1951 he taught at the Academy. His works are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the art museums of Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov, Omsk, Kiev, Kharkov, Lvov and others. Kugach had excellent teachers: Nikolay Krymov, Igor Grabar. Kugach was one of the favorite students of Sergei Vasilievich Gerasimov.
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