"Soviet War Paintings" Topic

Not sure if this was posted previously, but I thought it was interesting enough to share. Cheers.

Part 1
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Part 2
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Thank you, I've not seen those before- some powerful images in that collection.

Very interesting. Thanks for the link.

Thanks for that link to some very moving images.

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Some of these letters match the painting

Great, thanks.

Whole lotta socialist realism going on there.

John Dolan claims that only fascists produce heroic art. Either he's wrong, or I need a new definition of fascist.

Who is John Dolan?

Who cares?

Where did John Dolan say that?

Nice post.

Very powerful, indeed.

Great! Some of the Ruskie combat chicks are cute! 'Sister' on pg 1 is a bit bizarre, wounded guy is blinded, slumped backwards but just has arm over her shoulder & striding along with her!

John Dolan.
Brother of Mickey Dolan of the Monkeys right?

Very Norman Rockwellish…

CoopersteveOnTheLaptop wrote:

[…] 'Sister' on pg 1 is a bit bizarre, wounded guy is blinded, slumped backwards but just has arm over her shoulder & striding along with her!

It looks to me like he's blinded, maybe leaning his head back to try to see, but mostly being led (not carried) by her.

A couple of them remind me of Frank Frazetta's earlier heroic works.

- Bob

John Dolan is a failed English professor who sometimes writes for The Exiled. He's no great authority on anything, but sometimes spits out audacious bits of cultural criticism. Here's the site, you may find it stimulating, revolting or sophomoric, I recommend not swallowing anything you find there whole:

exiledonline.com

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tuscaloosa, exactly. These are powerful images, but in a free society I'd expect that one or two artists might visualize the war in some other way than idealized photo-realism. Kseniya Simonova gives us powerful images of war that are very different from these. Her art is not chained by ideology.

YouTube link

These are a great find – thank you very much.

I think they are powerful images. I do not agree that they are all chained to some form of idealism. Some are amazingly free in their expression considering the regime they were painted under.

These are powerful images, but in a free society I'd expect that one or two artists might visualize the war in some other way than idealized photo-realism.

When was the art painted? If it was from when the Communists were in power, then there would have been strong socio-political incentives to portray the war in a certain light.

Moreover, the paintings do seem to differ in subject matter, style, and mood.

Also, is this the entire set of Soviet war art re. World War 2, or are there potentially many paintings that did not, for whatever reason, make it onto that particular website?

"Whole lotta socialist realism going on there."

There are a lot in that collection that have real power in spite of those conventions.

Kseniya Simonova gives us powerful images of war that are very different

No, not really. But for some people, they can't let go of wars, be they cold or hot…
--
Tim

Well, us Brits find it difficult to let go of WW2 with less reason. As Eddie Izzard said…

So, America did well, Russia did well, and deservedly so, because half a million American soldiers died, half a million British soldiers died, and about 26 million Russian soldiers died. Soldiers and civilians, and that's just 50 times as many. It's just un-**g-believable, you know, and no one mentions it!

Anyhoo for Russian and Soviet art in general this is a good site.

katardat.org

Photomontage has always been something of a forte and, while these aren't wartime as such I like what they've done

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Yes Frontovik Eddie Izzard teaches more History in one stand up than a lot of history teachers teach in a lifetime.

I'll have cake please.

I would second the argument that there are many different styles here: some are clearly from the "Socialist Realist"s school (a clear contradiction in terms), but there are a variety of other styles here, and they are by far the more interesting. Some are merely boring and expected products of a totalitarian society, but many are powerful and authentic. There is clear evidence here that the Soviet state did indeed let up a bit during the war, even if it was disingenuous and temporary in its generosity. Thanks for posting these!

Very very good images--A lot from real life, alot stylised and impressionistic but still good--Actually one of the few area soviet era artists were pretty free to interpret was the Great Patriotic War..Film makers, writers and painters could usually express themselves and use experimental or non approved methods--just look at Come and See..

Come and See is a 1985 film and lies at one end of the war film genre that started in wartime with She Defends the Motherland. To put that in context Gorbachev came to power the same year.

Good discussion of Soviet war films here link

Very nice link above- runs a gamut from some very powerful and well done paintings to some pretty poorly done true Social Realism dreck. I have to say here that Krivonogov, Gerassimov, Nisskiy and Kukrinixy ( three guys) painting are very much done right after the events- these guys certainly visited front and painted much from life. MANY painting were done in 70s and 80s and quite a few were done in 90s- so I would not lump them into one category for sure. Great Patriotic War is still a very much close subject to every Russian…