Soviet Art

USSR brand Kiev cake

USSR brand Kiev cake

Cake in the USSR was more than the cake. It was the crown of the feast, the apogee of prosperity. So it consisted of everything and more: a lot of biscuits, nuts, jam, cream, with pink, white and green roses on the top. Soviet people enjoyed various kinds of cakes – Prague, Kolos, Napoleon, Ptichye moloko (Bird Milk), Skazka (Fairy tale), Tatarstan, Funnel cake, but most popular was Kiev cake, which became the USSR brand cake. The two-layered cake consisted of hazelnuts, chocolate glaze, and a butter cream. It was made in Kiev, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic since December 6, 1956 at the Karl Marx Confectionery Factory. Popular all over the USSR, the cake was the symbol of Kiev city, and the cake package depicted the coat of arms of Kiev – chestnut leaf. Few can argue, that cakes made in the time of the USSR were much tastier than they are now. Just a fact.
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Favorite holiday of people, Soviet spring festival 8 March

Soviet spring festival 8 March
The International Women’s Day on 8 March, in the first years of the Soviet Union became a national holiday, and the USSR for a long time was the only country to officially recognize it. During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet women celebrated International Women’s Day under the slogan “further strengthen the military might of the Soviet Union and the mobilization of all forces and the reserves of the country to help the front”. Since 1965, in the USSR, 8th of March has become inoperative. There were festive and ritual celebrations, and every year representatives of the government reported to the public about how public policy is carried out toward women. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Day on 8 March remained in the list of public holidays of the Russian Federation. Some of the former Soviet Union republics continue to celebrate 8 March, and some were quick to get rid of the “Soviet legacy”.
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Dedicated to the International Women’s day series. Collecting USSR matchbox labels

Collecting USSR matchbox labels

Undoubtedly, collecting matchbox labels, known as Phillumeny, was one of the most favorite hobbies for the Soviet people. In the late 1950’s – early 1960’s in major cities of the USSR appeared Phillumeny sections in the frame of collectors clubs. And, in many cases, philatelists of All-Union Society of philatelists officially supervised phillumenists. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, Phillumeny heyday lasted for two decades – 1960-1980.
In particular, it was the Balabanovo match factory, located in Moscow suburbs, which printed labels for the majority of match factories. In addition, they produced special kits for phillumenists – 100 labels in the set, as well as souvenir sets. Besides, the Baltic factory produced the similar kits, but with their own labels. At the end of 1980 the production of sets for collectors stopped. In part, due to the transition of many factories for the production of matches in cardboard rather than in veneer boxes. After 1991, Phillumeny craze began to decline, and most Phillumeny sections ceased to exist.
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Legendary Soviet chocolate Alyonka

Legendary Soviet chocolate Alyonka has 50 years of glorious history. Chocolate “Alyonka” – milk chocolate, made in the Soviet Union in 1965 and later produced in Russia, including at the confectionery factory “Red October” (1966). A distinctive feature is the cream, “fat” taste. All these years, “Alyonka” has been with us and become one of the symbols of a happy Soviet childhood for generations. And “Alyonka”, as we have known it since the USSR, even has its own museum! In the new food program, adopted in the early 1960s by the USSR government, a special attention was given to the creation of mass, affordable milk chocolate. At various factories in Moscow have begun experiments in creating delicious chocolate. In 1964, Soviet specialists-confectioners of the Moscow factory “Red October” developed appropriate formulation was which was put into production at the factory and at the same time at other chocolate factories – “Rot Front”, Babayevsky, and then in many other Soviet confectionery factories. The first “Alyonka” became Babayevsky girl in a blue scarf. The second became Alyonka made at Rot Front chocolate factory – girl with a watering can and a girl with a dog and a bunny.
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World War II Soviet posters. Popular poster “Motherland calls!” was the first and the most famous Soviet poster of the second world war. The text on the sheet in the Motherland hand is the Red Army oath

World War II Soviet posters
The Most famous Soviet posters of the period of World War II are works of art and reflect elements of the Soviet cultural heritage. Such posters have often been displayed at special stands. Military posters differed in the quality of performance, and form. Some posters were rude caricatures, while others were paintings on military subjects or photographs and had been popular with explanations about what is happening. Popular was a poetic commentary, or a quote from the works of Vladimir Lenin or Iosif Stalin. Popular poster “Motherland calls!” was the first and the most famous Soviet poster of the second world war. The text on the sheet in the Motherland hand is the Red Army oath. The Motherland Calls poster was created by artist Irakli Moiseevich Toidze in late June 1941. The artist himself recalled – upon hearing the first report of the Soviet Information Bureau that Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Toidze’s wife ran into his studio with a cry “War!”. Startled by the expression on her face, the artist ordered his wife to freeze and immediately began to sketch the future masterpiece.
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USSR coat of arms. Tea-glass holder for Soviet passengers, traveling by train, and one of the symbols of the railway. Legendary Soviet Podstakannik

Legendary Soviet Podstakannik
Traditionally, in the Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian and any Soviet republic’s trains the tea was served and drunk from glasses, not from cups. The stability of the glass on the table provided made of metal “podstakannik” that holds a drinking glass.
Meanwhile, the tradition of drinking tea from glasses and podstakanniks penetrated the life of ordinary families, and homes. Noteworthy, the history of podstakannik is inextricably connected with the history of the USSR. Chosen, in particular, an ideal advertising medium, billboard, and conductor of Soviet propaganda. There was no television yet, and for advertising used other subjects, mostly collectible things. Among them – podstakanniks and matchboxes, stamps and postcards, badges and porcelain figurines. Besides, each of them could not help but caught the eye of every Soviet citizen.
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Soviet American actress Anna Sten (December 3, 1908 – November 12, 1993)

Soviet American actress Anna Sten

When in 1935, French actor, cabaret singer and entertainer Maurice Chevalier (1888 – 1972) was asked to list the 10 most beautiful women in the world, he named Anna Sten, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, French actress Annabella, Loretta Young, Merle Oberon, Clara Bow, Kay Francis and others. In Hollywood, the mid-1930s Anna became famous for her ability to pick up clothes. American film producer and studio executive Darryl Francis Zanuck (1902 – 1979) said that she dresses better than anyone he had ever seen. A female director Dorothy Arzner (1897 – 1979) filmed Anna Stan in drama “Nana”, put her on a par with Garbo, Miriam Hopkins, Katharine Hepburn and Ruth Chatterton in his list of the most glamorous actresses. Soviet American actress Anna Sten was born Anna Petrovna Fesak, on December 3, 1908 in Kiev, the Russian Empire.
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