The art of propaganda in the 72-year history of the Soviet Union (1917-1989) is the result of a skilful blending of art and politics, where the ideals that Carl Marx and Friedrich Engels had elaborated in the ‘Manifesto’ in 1848 for the construction of a new civilisation that would lead mankind to economic and social equality, became the tools of power communication strategy that persuaded and directed the viewer to a precise political choice.
For the revolution to be permanent, the people had to be mobilised on a daily basis. Obedience to doctrine excluded any aesthetic form that was deemed frivolous and bourgeois. The workers and peasants impersonated the new socialist aristocracy with the smiling pride and physical floridity of the heroes of the working people.
But also the glorious contribution of the Red Army in fighting and defeating Nazi Germany was an image of extraordinary symbolic value that reinforced the positive reputation of communism in the world.
The web-only auction dedicated to Paintings of Soviet Realism (running until 12 July 2022) features three works that recount the idyll of these new champions of the socialist dream, such as Mikail Tkachenko’s ‘The Corn Harvest’ from 1981 (lot 20, estimate €2. 000 – 3,000 euro), Askhat Safargalin’s 1970 ‘Return to the Village’ (lot 182, estimate 3,000 – 5,000 euro) and Victor Puzyrkov’s 1994 ‘Ukrainian Partisans’ (lot 65, estimate 3,500 – 4,000 euro).
