Sentimentality in Post War Soviet Socialist Realism

The  staggering losses the Soviet Union endured during WWII vary considerably. The Russian government, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, reported the total Soviet loss at 26.6 million. Many Russian historians now think the number is closer to 40 million. Over 3 million children died primarily from famine and disease. When I was in Leningrad in 1988, The local guide told us at the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad that there were very few males living in Leningrad that were born in 1924 (64 years old in 1988). The few I saw who appeared about that age wore dark suit jackets with military ribbons. These survivors of the 900-day Siege of Leningrad didn't have to wait in line to make  purchases.

At the end of the war, the number of males from ages 20-50 had decreased by more than 35 %. Increasing the birthrate was a priority of the State to rebuild the country. Mother and child paintings became common. This type of art had occasionally appeared before the war, but was considered sentimental and not in keeping with the Socialist Realist ideals of the State.

     Arkady Plastov, (1893-1972)

     A Touch of Peace on Earth, 1957.

 Dementi Shmarinov  (b.1907) 

 The Family, 1957

Viktor Zaisev (b. 1922)
Young Mother and Her Baby, 1955

Vasily Netchitailo (1915-1980)
Ksenya with Masha, 1968.

Konstantin Prokhorov (b. 1924)

Grandmother and Granddaughter, 1953

Bozhyi Mykhailovych, (1911 - 1990)

Igoryok, 1950

Mairjy Savchenkova (b. 1917) Valechka, 1961.

Prior to the War, it was almost nonexistent to show a male taking care of a baby.

Valentina Shebasheva,  At Home 1955

In Young Pioneer at the Door (1955), a young girl isn't sure what will happen because she didn't come straight home from school because she was picking lilies. During the pre war and inter war years a Pioneer would not be portrayed as having anything less than perfect behavior. Young Pioneer at the Door is similar to many Norman Rockwell covers on The Saturday Evening Post.

Fedor Shapaev (b. 1927)

Young Pioneer at the Door, 1955

The New Dress, 1960, is a Rockwellian painting that shows a mother or older sister fitting a skirt while the child is fidgeting.     

Yakov Prichepa (b.1919)

The New Dress, 1960

At the end of WWII, there were about 2.5 million orphans in the Soviet Union.Some of the reasons for the large number of orphans included living in areas of the USSR that were under Nazi occupation, deported parents, and relocation programs. Model workers were those workers who adopted war orphans. Being selected as a model worker had many benefits — promotion to a better paying position, paid vacations at a Black Sea spa, travel to other Socialist countries, or being able to shop in special stores with better merchandise and no lines. In the  poster below, there is a picture on the wall of a benevolent and protective Stalin receiving a bouquet from a young child. The propaganda program had a positive effect in reducing the number of children in State orphanages.

Nikolai Zhukov, c. 1947

Surround orphans with maternal affection and love.

Posters of contented children, cared for in the nurseries of the collective farms, were important so that mother's could feel secure about the care given to their children. In the early post Revolutionary period, the State did not trust mothers who did not work. A stay at home Mom was considered a parasite to the socialist system.

  Nina Batolina, c.1955

  Mothers' work, labor disputes – children are well 

  cared for at the kolkhoz (collective farm) nursery.

Nina Batolina, c.1955

Let the kindergarten surround the children in each 

kolkhoz (collective farm) with love.

Similar to what happened in the United States, mothers in The Soviet Union found it easier to bottle feed. An educational campaign to encourage breast feeding was not very successful among urban mothers.

Nikolai Valerianov, 1957

Breast Feed Your Child. Mother's milk is the best food for 
the child.

N. N. Vatolina, 1948, 

Healthy Parents - Healthy offspring

These sentimental works of art to encourage an increase of the birth rates, were promoting the goals of the Socialist State and should not be considered as a relaxation in policy. The first significant challenge to Socialist Realism wouldn't happen until 1974. A group of artists, whose works were not in keeping with the State's goals, set up an exhibit in a park in Moscow. The KGB brought in bulldozers to destroy the artworks. The foreign press was there to cover the event. A few weeks later there was an exhibition of Nonconformist Art in Izmailovsky Park in Moscow.  Glasnost and Perestroika of the 1980's paved the way to the demise of the USSR in 1991.