"Communist" Art

[ComradeMan]

No one talks about art much in the old "communist" countries. The general idea seems to be of endless spirited looking soldiers, workers and agricultural labourers on Soviet/Chinese propaganda posters or glorious leaaders towering over their people. Although this is undoubtedly an aspect of propaganda art it is a shame that people forget the other works too.

Chagall, Kandinsky and Malevich for instance- they also thrived during the early revolutionary period in Moscow. In Cuba artistic expression is not only linked to ideas of the revolution or for propaganda purposes either. Artistic expression has played a big part in Cuban life.

Perhaps we could post in this thread images and information about artistic expression (good and bad) under communism and the various influences from indigenous cultures, pre-existing art trends, international developments and so on.

Just to note, surrealism had its roots in socialist revolution.

SURREALISM’S ROOTS WERE in the nihilistic western Dada art movement of the beginning of the 20th century. The international mass radicalisation accompanying the latter years of the first world war – illustrated most spectacularly by the Russian revolution of 1917 when working-class people, guided by a mass Marxist party, actually took power – had its impact on artists as it had on all sections of society.

The surrealists came out of that maelstrom. Made up of many different individuals and trends, incorporating many different ideas, using a variety of media, surrealism was an overwhelmingly radical, left-wing movement.
In 1924, André Breton wrote the Manifeste du Surréalisme, proclaiming the birth of the surrealist movement, himself in the leadership alongside Louis Aragon and Philippe Soupault. One of its most far-reaching aspirations was to get all people engaging in art, not as passive onlookers, but as producers of art as well. The surrealists participated in political activity to bring about the social and economic change required. There were even formal discussions within the surrealist movement on whether they should join the communist parties.

Whereas the ‘official’ history of surrealism tends to focus on its male leaders, a number of women played significant roles in its artistic and political life. By the end of the 1920s, for example, Denise Naville (née Lévy) and her husband, Pierre, both pioneers of surrealism, devoted themselves to the anti-Stalinist cause. Denise Naville, a key link between the French surrealists and German artists, translated Trotsky’s writings into German, along with works by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and others. (Surrealist Women, edited by Penelope Rosemont)

Surrealism was also strongly influenced by new, groundbreaking psychological theories, in particular Freudian psychoanalysis, and Breton defined it as "pure psychic automatism, by which an attempt is made to express, either verbally, in writing or in any other manner, the true functioning of thought. The dictation of thought, in the absence of all control by reason, excluding any aesthetic or moral preoccupation". So, just as society had to be freed from the restrictions of ruling-class control, thought could also be liberated.

Surrealism published a number of periodicals, including La Révolution Surréaliste (1924-30, co-edited by Pierre Naville) and Le Surréalisme au Service de la Révolution (1930-33). Those publications gave the movement a certain cohesion, and helped spread the ideas outside of France.

From: http://www.socialismtoday.org/120/manifesto.html

[ComradeMan]

By the October Revolution of was one of the Soviet Union's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde, which enjoyed special privileges and prestige as the "aesthetic arm of the revolution." Lewis, Michael J. "Whatever Happened to Marc Chagall?" Commentary, October, 2008 pgs. 36-37

Chagall was offered a notable position as a commissar of visual arts for the country however he opted for something with a lower profile and took the position as "commissar" of arts for Vitebsk. This resulted in his founding the Vitebsk Arts College which, adds Lewis, became the "most distinguished school of art in the Soviet Union." (ibidem).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bd/Chagall_Bella.jpg/180px-Chagall_Bella.jpg (http://www.revleft.com/wiki/File:Chagall_Bella.jpg)
Bella with White Collar (http://www.revleft.com/wiki/Bella_with_White_Collar), 1917

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

I think it is also very much worth looking at the constructivism in the earliest days of the Soviet Union. Some of this work was fantastic and reflected the creativity, optimism and freedom of expression that came with a qualitative change in the function of society.

Of course, when the SU devolved into serious counter revolution, this kind of forward thinking art was repressed, then came socialist realism.

[Bud Struggle]

Interesting point about Chagall (whose most fameous work may be the interior of the VERY Bourgeois Paris Opera House,) is that he was a "Communist" artist until the state took control of art in the Soviet Union and he lost his artistic freedom. Then he went to Bourgeoisie France.

While he painted a bit as a modernist--he was primarily a Jewish painter and his better work reflected Jewish life in Russia before the Revolution.

[Bud Struggle]

I think it is also very much worth looking at the constructivism in the earliest days of the Soviet Union. Some of this work was fantastic and reflected the creativity, optimism and freedom of expression that came with a qualitative change in the function of society.

Of course, when the SU devolved into serious counter revolution, this kind of forward thinking art was repressed, then came socialist realism.

There definitely were TWO periods of Soviet art--before and after the state took control--I don't know if you can just assume that state control came as a result of counter Revolution. It may have been a product of universal state control of all aspects of propaganda. Certainly Stalin though art was propaganda. That's why he exherted personal control over the arts in his time--even going as far as to personally write critiques (under another name) of artist in Pravda.

Further Maoist China had similar restraints on art--so it may be a Communist cultural thing that keeps a close lock of art.

[ComradeMan]

I think it is also very much worth looking at the constructivism in the earliest days of the Soviet Union. Some of this work was fantastic and reflected the creativity, optimism and freedom of expression that came with a qualitative change in the function of society.

Of course, when the SU devolved into serious counter revolution, this kind of forward thinking art was repressed, then came socialist realism.

Well- come on then- post some examples! ;)

In relation to Bud's point- unfortunately revolutionary governments get fixated on propaganda all the time and probably this develops the psychosis that all art is propaganda in one sense or the other. It's unfortunate. Moving on to Stalin- well, Stalin's artistic tastes were practically as bland as Hitler's- frighteningly similar too.

[Bud Struggle]

Stalin's artistic tastes were practically as bland as Hitler's- frighteningly similar too.

And frankly their "art" looked a lot like America and British propaganda of the day. The difference is that in Bourgeoisie societies a sharp distinction was made between the two and real creative arts were still alowed to create while in the other places--it wasn't.

[ComradeMan]

And frankly their "art" looked a lot like America and British propaganda of the day. The difference is that in Bourgeoisie societies a sharp distinction was made between the two and real creative arts were still alowed to create while in the other places--it wasn't.

Well Modigliani had his works removed for showing pubic hair and offending public decency. There was censorship all the same, but it was perhaps not political censorship.

Remember the bourgeois societies were not revolutionary societies either- you have to take in the context. Don't forget the Nazis either- they had their obsession with art too, Hitler was your typical bourgeois philistine in many senses.

I wonder if they had allowed him into the school of arts in Vienna... what a different world!!! Makes you wonder how many other artists may have become dictators had they not had success. Can you imagine a dictatorship under Dali?:lol:

[Bud Struggle]

I wonder if they had allowed him into the school of arts in Vienna... what a different world!!! Makes you wonder how many other artists may have become dictators had they not had success. Can you imagine a dictatorship under Dali?:lol:

And speaking of Vienna--the Secessionists and Art Nouveau flourished under the Austrian EMPORER! You could still some really intriguing Art Nouveau buildings all over the hinterlands of what used to be the old Austro-Hungarian Empire.

And don't forget that some of the BEST Art Nouveau architecture was in churches commissioned by the Empire.


http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/digitalpress/digitalpress0803/digitalpress080300027/2639454.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3102/2896487138_03fc9035ac.jpg?v=0

[9]

Interesting point about Chagall (whose most fameous work may be the interior of the VERY Bourgeois Paris Opera House,) is that he was a "Communist" artist until the state took control of art in the Soviet Union and he lost his artistic freedom. Then he went to Bourgeoisie France.

Chagall left the Soviet Union a decade before "socialist realism" was adopted as state policy, so no.

[Bud Struggle]

Chagall left the Soviet Union a decade before "socialist realism" was adopted as state policy, so no.

True it was before socialist realism actually took hold--but the social demands on artists began long before that. He was a Jewish artist (not an artist that happened to be Jewish) and he found it difficult to express himself in the Soviet Union.

Chagall left the SU because of artistic freedom issues.

[ComradeMan]

Let's perhaps post examples in a positive way instead of arguing to the negative.... Just perhaps. We all know what didn't happen- let's concentrate on what did happen.
Just a suggestion.;)

[Bud Struggle]

You want me to say something NICE about Soviet Art? EVERYBODY is beating up on me today! :D :

[ComradeMan]

You want me to say something NICE about Soviet Art? EVERYBODY is beating up on me today! :D :

It doesn't have to be nice. But the OP was not just about the Soviet Union either. What about Cuban art for example? We don't need to concentrate on fine and plastic arts either- we could look at all different forms of artistic expression- even science fiction if you want.

[9]

True it was before socialist realism actually took hold--but the social demands on artists began long before that. He was a Jewish artist (not an artist that happened to be Jewish) and he found it difficult to express himself in the Soviet Union.
That's funny, since Jews were actually physically confined to ghettos by law under the Tsar, and the Tsarist state was sponsoring pogroms against them. The Russian Revolution completely freed Russian Jews, literally. El Lissitzky, who was part of the UNOVIS group at Chagall's school in Vitebsk, was only able to start illustrating Yiddish childrens' books after the revolution, when the anti-Semitic Tsarist laws were repealed:

http://media.smashingmagazine.com/cdn_smash/wp-content/uploads/images/bauhaus/el-lissitzky-chad-gadya-1922.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/59/229480613_6e6282452f.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Lissitzky

[Bud Struggle]

I'm never said that the Jews were better off under the Tsar. Just for the kind of highly spiritualzed art (Kaballistic to an extent) Chagall felt freer in France.

[brigadista]

http://www.noa-art.com/Eliades/index-eliades.html

Cuban artist Luis Eliades Rodriguez

i forgot to add that if ever you visit Baracoa you can visit his studio which is also his house

[ComradeMan]

http://www.noa-art.com/Eliades/index-eliades.html

Cuban artist Luis Eliades Rodriguez



http://www.noa-art.com/Eliades/p-obras_normal/eliades-che.jpg

[Bud Struggle]

^^^Propaganda.

Art would be a picture of Che begging for his life just before he was shot.

[ComradeMan]

^^^Propaganda.

Art would be a picture of Che begging for his life just before he was shot.

Oh dear. We are in a mood tonight!!! :lol: Eat more tomatoes- you anglos get so stressed!!! :lol:

What about this...

http://www.cuba-avantgarde.com/images/art/marino_the_raft.jpg

The Raft: Armando Mariño (b. 1968 , resides in Spain)

http://www.cuba-avantgarde.com/images/art/marino_the_raft.jpg

[scarletghoul]

Emory Douglas
YEAHH

[Bud Struggle]

Oh dear. We are in a mood tonight!!! :lol: Eat more tomatoes- you anglos get so stressed!!! :lol:

What about this...

http://www.cuba-avantgarde.com/images/art/marino_the_raft.jpg

The Raft: Armando Mariño (b. 1968 , resides in Spain)

http://www.cuba-avantgarde.com/images/art/marino_the_raft.jpg

Art would be Fidel with fear and shock in his face at the wheel as the car was driving off a cliff. :D

I have a million of them, a million of them!

[ComradeMan]

Fidel is quite pro-Art.

Who needs a million cars anyway? Just a million more spare tyres to sort out etc.

Come on Bud....

EdWo8lGLDgI

[Bud Struggle]

Sad fact--all those pictures of 1959 Chevys rebuilt and meticulously maintained on the street of Havana are just a myth.

They're mostly Toyotas. :)

[ComradeMan]

Sad fact--all those pictures of 1959 Chevys rebuilt and meticulously maintained on the street of Havana are just a myth.

They're mostly Toyotas. :)

So they aren't so stuck in the 1950's afterall.... ;)

[Bud Struggle]

So they aren't so stuck in the 1950's afterall.... ;)

I mean, Dude: Communism. ;) :D

[Revolution starts with U]

What's it matter, there's places here in Ohio that are stuck in the 50s.

[ComradeMan]

I mean, Dude: Communism. ;) :D

Yeah.....


http://golfclubatlas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/rf19-communisit-art-9409.jpg

[ComradeMan]

http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/art-history/werckmeister/March_30_1999/Mukhina.jpg





Vera Mukhina, Factory Worker and Collective Farm Girl, 1937 (Sculpture originally on top of Soviet Pavilion at the Paris Exposition)


Other works:


1927 Peasant Woman, freestanding bronze, now at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow
the 1934 Fertility and 1939 Bread, both now standing in Moscow's Friendship Park
three cornice figures on the pediment of the Winter Theater in Sochi, 1937
the monumental group We Demand Peace, 1950-1951 (Mukhina served as coordinator of other sculptors and contributor; her figure is the mourning mother)
the 1952 Maxim Gorky Monument in Nizhny Novgorod
the statue of Tchaikovsky in front of the Moscow Conservatory
the finial figure of Mir ("Peace"), with armillary sphere and dove, for the 1954 Volgograd Planetarium

[ComradeMan]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Tkachenko-Leonid-May-day-on-Vasilievsky-Island-pos49bw.jpg/800px-Tkachenko-Leonid-May-day-on-Vasilievsky-Island-pos49bw.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Tkachenko-Leonid-May-day-on-Vasilievsky-Island-pos49bw.jpg)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tkachenko-Leonid-May-day-on-Vasilievsky-Island-pos49bw.jpg

English: Painting "May Day on the Vasilievsky Island in Leningrad" by Russian artist Leonid Tkachenko (b.1927)
Русский: Картина "Первомай на Васильевском острове" ленинградского художника Л. А. Ткаченко (р.1927)

[hobo8675309]

soviet art is the cheesiest thing ever conceived.

[ComradeMan]

soviet art is the cheesiest thing ever conceived.

Define what you mean by Soviet art? I wasn't aware there was one specific school....

[Obs]

soviet art is the cheesiest thing ever conceived.
Your face is the cheesiest thing ever conceived.

Content:

7932

[Bud Struggle]

soviet art is the cheesiest thing ever conceived.

Define what you mean by cheese and wht's your opinion of Muzzerella?

:D

[Ele'ill]

http://blogs.saschina.org/ivory01pd2014/files/2010/01/071208-banksy.jpg

http://www.briansewell.com/images/banksy-balloongirl.jpg

[ComradeMan]

Define what you mean by cheese and wht's your opinion of Muzzerella?

:D

Mozzarella is not cheese!:scared: It's a latticino.;)

[Revolution starts with U]

I seen some graffiti on a closed shop today. It is what I would consider "communist art." It told a story of how they guy was wrongfully improsoned, and his property sold off at auction. Now he's homeless and a felon. Good luck getting a good job new business loan (he owned the one he graffiti'd before the arrest) :rolleyes:

[Bud Struggle]

I seen some graffiti

Grammar! :D

Seriously, that kid of art--graffiti, is the real stuff of Communist art. Not the art of state institutions making propaganda.

[Revolution starts with U]

Would it be seen or saw? Or had seen... hmm.. good call tho :laugh:
But yes, graffiti, doodles, and cartoons/comics. In my experience that is the art that proles practice; generally.
Oh yeah... and joints rolled like flowers... yeah man, like totally

[ComradeMan]

Would it be seen or saw? Or had seen... hmm.. good call tho :laugh:
But yes, graffiti, doodles, and cartoons/comics. In my experience that is the art that proles practice; generally.
Oh yeah... and joints rolled like flowers... yeah man, like totally


http://www.supertouchart.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/banksyynyc2.jpg

[Jimmie Higgins]

Define what you mean by Soviet art? I wasn't aware there was one specific school....

How about Socialist Realism was the cheesiest art ever conceived. I think most commercial advertisements (called propaganda until WWII) have it beat, but it's close since there's a lot of overlap.

[ComradeMan]

How about Socialist Realism was the cheesiest art ever conceived. I think most commercial advertisements (called propaganda until WWII) have it beat, but it's close since there's a lot of overlap.

Right- okay, why don't you post some examples then and explain why?

[Jimmie Higgins]

Right- okay, why don't you post some examples then and explain why?
http://img3.visualizeus.com/thumbs/09/01/05/1950s,ad,advertisment,avion,azafata,comida,flight, food,illustration,ilustracion,plane,publicidad,ste wardess,twa,vintage,vuelo-005d6e4f5f0ffd0ce710b7c19af0749b_m.jpg
Wow, Timmy! Look at what this company gives to you!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3470/3752735408_c9de2e71dc.jpg
Wow Comrade Timmy, look at the abundance Uncle Joe has brought you!

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2009/10/26/1256549007911/Students---Volunteers-In--001.jpg
Such abundance comrades!

http://www.creativelydifferentblinds.com/BlindImages/2779.jpg
Such abundance consumers!

http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai151_folder/151_photos_big/151_250_art_9_women.jpg
Gee ladies, work sure is a breeze since we got that new system!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2513/3775697602_e709c46428.jpg
Gee ladies, cooking sure is a breeze now that I have this new oven!

Socialist Realism is Russian kitsch. Although a lot of it is crass, it has produced very interesting works as far as content and technique and skill... but then again so have Madison Ave. and Hollywood. If some craftsmen and artists can rise above constraints placed on their work in content or form and create something that touches people beyond these constraints, it is the exception that proves the rule. Art should exist on its own terms, not terms dictated by capital and profit or bureaucrats and imposed guidelines.

[Revolution starts with U]

More prole art;
"For a good time call 555-5555"
"Here I sit all broken hearted. Had to shit.. but only farted."
:laugh:

[ComradeMan]

Wow, Timmy! Look at what this company gives to you!


Wow Comrade Timmy, look at the abundance Uncle Joe has brought you!


Such abundance comrades!


Such abundance consumers!


Gee ladies, work sure is a breeze since we got that new system!


Gee ladies, cooking sure is a breeze now that I have this new oven!

Socialist Realism is Russian kitsch. Although a lot of it is crass, it has produced very interesting works as far as content and technique and skill... but then again so have Madison Ave. and Hollywood. If some craftsmen and artists can rise above constraints placed on their work in content or form and create something that touches people beyond these constraints, it is the exception that proves the rule. Art should exist on its own terms, not terms dictated by capital and profit or bureaucrats and imposed guidelines.

Most of those works are propaganda works we all know about and where mentioned in the OP- but what about:-




N. Podzneev
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Pozdneev-Sday-per20bw.jpg/424px-Pozdneev-Sday-per20bw.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Pozdneev-Sday-per20bw.jpg)


Nevsky

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Savinov-Gleb-Alexandrovich-Nevsky-Prospekt-new204bw.jpg/436px-Savinov-Gleb-Alexandrovich-Nevsky-Prospekt-new204bw.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Savinov-Gleb-Alexandrovich-Nevsky-Prospekt-new204bw.jpg)


Semionov

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Semionov-Alexase35bw.jpg/509px-Semionov-Alexase35bw.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Semionov-Alexase35bw.jpg)


Quite frankly to talk of Socialist/Soviet "realism" as if it were one "school" of art is quite misleading.

Socialist realism was what guided the "schools" of art, and it's also a lot of Western Propaganda to make it all out as typical Stalinist era propaganda material.

[9]

it's also a lot of Western Propaganda to make it all out as typical Stalinist era propaganda material.

socialist realism was adopted as state policy in 1932 under stalin, and most of the revolutionary artists were expelled for "noncompliance". so i'm not seeing what's "western propaganda" about it.

[ComradeMan]

socialist realism was adopted as state policy in 1932 under stalin, and most of the revolutionary artists were expelled for "noncompliance". so i'm not seeing what's "western propaganda" about it.

Yes... and no, the Proletkult was founded in 1917, and early Russian revolutionary art draw on prior and contemporary influences too.

The propaganda comment was more aimed at the fact that the sum total of Soviet era art was not just the stereotypical propaganda stuff- like some of the works above.
:cool:

[Jimmie Higgins]

Most of those works are propaganda works we all know about and where mentioned in the OP- but what about:-Yes, these are the exceptions that prove the rule. But just as genuinely interesting and even subversive works in contemporary capitalist countries does not disprove the view that art in capitalism is not "free" but heavily influenced by the pressures of the capitalist system, genuine works of art coming out of socialist realism does not mean that this is the best way for society to handle the production of art.

In my view, workers have no class interest in dealing with art in this way. The only things that a working class society should do in regards to art is to free it from the capitalist modes of production and distribution, free it from the control of either private institutions (like elite private galleries and private art schools), increase access to art education and the tools necessary for its production in order to decentralize art and make it a more grassroots part of everyday life for millions of more people. If groups of artists want to organize themselves into schools to promote or explore certain ideas in or about art, the by all means that would be a good thing, but it should be done on a mutual and bottom-up sort of way, not made "official art policy".

Aside from obvious and overt racism/sexism and anti-worker propaganda, style and subject-matter have to be totally without restrictions.