A new exhibit of post-Soviet artwork is currently on display in the Nasher Museum of Art’s Education Gallery through December 23, and it’s well worth a visit.
The exhibit, The Subverted Icon: Images of Power in Soviet Art (1970-1995), explores the ways in which artists in late- and post-Soviet Russia represented, confronted, and challenged state-sponsored propaganda, Soviet architecture, and the populist art of earlier generations. It was curated by students in Professor Pamela Kachurin’s “Soviet Art After Stalin” seminar. There’s a good review in the October 18 issue of the Duke Chronicle.
For those interested in a little extra credit, Duke is home to one of the oldest and most extensive Slavic research collections in the southeastern United States. Here’s a taste of some additional readings and resources to whet the appetite of your inner Russophile:
- Online library guide for Professor Kachurin’s “Soviet Art After Stalin” seminar, put together by Erik Zitser, librarian for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies.
- A digitized collection of 20th-century Russian posters, spanning almost the entire history of the Soviet Union (1917-1991) and featuring some striking examples of the constructivist style.
- Americans in the Land of Lenin, a digitized collection of photographs of daily life in the Soviet Union (1919-1921 and 1930) drawn from the papers of Robert L. Eichelberger and Frank Whitson Fetter in the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
- Art of Russia: Smashing the Mold (50:00), a streaming digital video program on 20th-century Russian art (Duke access only).
Go check out the exhibit, and find more great resources on Russian art and politics at the library.
Thanks a lot really…i try hard to find a digitized collection of 20th century posters from Soviet union, so i’m so glad to find this link. Thanks again you saved my life 🙂