Painting

As was true of other artistic genres which adhered to the post-1932 “official style” of Stalinist culture, socialist realism, painting was above all intended to serve didactic, or instructional purposes. Individual artists were responsible for capturing on canvas the “objective truth” of the Party’s ideology and displaying its meaning in concrete images that would inspire mass audiences of poorly and semi-educated citizens. This curious combination of aesthetics (form) and ideology (function) in socialist realist painting was deeply indebted to two seemingly contradictory elements of the Russian cultural past: the nineteenth-century school of realist painting and the traditional religious iconography of the Russian Orthodox faith.

In terms of form socialist realist paintings followed the footsteps of the Itinerants (peredvizhniki / передвижники), a post-1870 group of Russian painters whose works focused on ordinary, everyday occurrences or historical events immediately recognizable to audiences. However, in terms of function, socialist realist paintings mimicked the inspirational purpose of Orthodox iconography which aimed to instill faith in believers of the world’s coming redemption through heavenly salvation.

In short, socialist realist paintings combined realist form and iconographic function for the purpose of portraying daily reality not as it was but, rather, as it would be following the advent of Communism.

In the aftermath of the formal pronouncement of socialist realism, certain types of painterly set pieces came to be portrayed with regularity. Among these were historical themes drawn from Russia’s medieval and Imperial past; depictions of military scenes (especially after June 22, 1941); vignettes from “daily life” (joyful peasants laboring in the fields, factory workers over fulfilling the Plan, young athletes engaging in sporting events, etc.) and, of course, monumental works portraying the USSR’s political leaders (above all, STALIN) in heroic light. In each instance, these art works were intended to inspire and educate; their goal was to capture the hearts and focus the minds of audiences in advance of the construction of socialism.

This page provides a virtual gallery of Soviet painting and portraiture from the early 1930s to 1953 (the year of Stalin’s death).

To view the items (including captions) click on the images below.

Vasilii Efanov, “An Unforgettable Meeting” (1936-37)