Impressionism In Socialist Realism in the USSR

It was the only State approved art style in the Soviet Union after 1932. Many of the paintings were homages to the communist leaders. Other works lacked any artistic merit or were outright lies such as Arkady Plastov's pictorial myth of happy peasants celebrating under a portrait of Stalin in Collective Farm Festival.

Arkady Plastov, Collective Farm Festival, 1937.

Collectivization caused famines in 1932–33 that killed about 5 million ethnic Ukrainians. Over three million kulak (land owning) farmers were arrested, executed or deported. The banner reads Life has become better. Life has become more cheerful  – a frequently quoted line from a Stalin speech.

Yuri   Kugach, Glory to the Great Stalin, 1950

Glory to the Great Stalin, perpetuates the Cult of Stalin. With the Cold War underway, non-Communists in the West, did not think Socialist Realism was a legitimate style. It persisted in an attenuated form during the 1970's, was essentially non-existent during the Perestroika years, and officially ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

However, there is a plethora of works where artists were able to demonstrate their individual creative skills and still satisfy the State doctrine of promoting the achievements of the Socialist State. Stalin had never said how Socialist Realism should look. He focused on the content and promoting the achievements of his collective utopia. The highly individualistic Avant-garde styles were eliminated during the first 15 years after the 1917 Revolution. The content needed to be accessible to the peasants, factory workers and intelligentsia. Impressionism was frequently used as a stylistic vehicle for Socialist Realism.

Gleb Barabanshchikov, Picking Flowers, 1945

Picking Flowers, could be French Impressionism of the 1870's in the bright fields in the South of France. The girl, however has a red neckerchief of the Young Pioneers, a youth organization in the Soviet Union for children from age 9 to 15. The other children in the background also have neckerchiefs and there is a red banner at the gate. It is a summer camp for Pioneers. The Pioneer movement was instrumental in eliminating illiteracy after the Revolution. Unlike going to a Scouting Jamboree in capitalist countries, the children do not pay any expenses or sell cookies. After finishing the Young Pioneers, children with a recommendation could join Komsomol, the Young Communist League. When I travelled in Socialist countries during the early 1980's I enjoyed taking pictures of the Pioneers. They were friendly, smiled, and never asked for money like children did in Third World countries.

Portraits needed to show healthy, physically strong individuals with superior moral qualities. The concept of tipichinost (typicality) was paramount in portraits.  In the 1950's I had the notion that citizens in the Soviet Union were like robots who waited in long lines to get a shirt that the government handed them. Whether the person liked the color of the shirt or not was not important. Tipichinost did not mean that the portraits eliminated the individual personality from the portrait. An athlete, soldier or rural peasant each had their own tipichinost that could be understood by the viewer.

In Alexander Samokhvalov series of portraits of the New Soviet Woman, the individual traits are evident.

A. N. Samokhvalov, Girl with a Shot Put, 1932.

In Girl with a Shot Put, the bright sunlight emphasizes the feminine features of her breasts, groin and short hair sensuously covering part of her face. The shadows emphasize her muscular strength. The blue letter D on her shirt is the logo for the Dynamo Sports Club, the largest Soviet sports club with it's headquarters in Moscow and affiliate clubs world wide. In Russian the word has the connotation of power in motion and also can mean a power generator. The color red, symbol of the power of the Soviet Union and Red Army is the color of her skimpy clingy briefs.

A. N. Samokhvalov, Girl in a Football Jersey, 1932.

Girl in a Football Jersey was awarded a gold medal at the the 1937 Paris International Exposition.  Pablo Picasso’s Guernica was entered that year but didn't win an award.

Alexander Samokhvalov, Girl in an Interior, 1940

The young woman in her comfortable apartment with a piano is part of the intelligentsia. She also is the builder of the Soviet future. Impressionism with soft edges and muted colors creates a dream like intimate  environment. Flowers, tea, wine, a lemon, nice drapery, a large dog and a small piano almost touching the dining table, signify a comfortable but not excessive way of life.

Grigori Pavel, Crane Operator, Крановщица, 1955.

The young woman in Crane Operator, is not afraid to work on the dangerously open platform. She is painted from a low angle and looms over the viewer from high in the sky. The red kerchief shows her allegiance to Socialist State. The Soviet Union prided itself that it didn't have gender discrimination. More than a half century after this painting was made, minority and female crane operators are still underrepresented in the construction trades in the Unites States. The buildings and cranes in the background show the post war housing boom that was occurring in the Soviet Union.

Yuri Pimenov, New Moscow, 1937.

If 19th Century French Impressionism could make the new widened boulevards and fashionably dressed pedestrians of Paris look so appealing, it could do the same for Moscow, but with an ideological slant. In New Moscow, a young woman in a stylish dress and a modern short hair style is driving a convertible. She is liberated and unescorted. The red carnation signifies she supports the Socialist state. Stalin began his General Reconstruction of Moscow in 1934, during the Second Five Year Plan that focused on urbanization and social services. Old narrow pre-Revolutionary streets were torn down. The new Stalinesque tall buildings are in the background. She is driving from the past with the classical and neoclassical architecture to the Socialist future. To the right of the second lamp post is a white M that marks the entrance to the Moscow Metro. In 1935 the first line of the Metro opened. Over a quarter million people rode the Metro during the opening day celebrations. It was one of the great achievements of the new Socialist state. The New York subway averaged only 25 mph but the Moscow Metro averaged 47mph. Without developing the steel industry during the First Five Year Plan (1928–1932), there wouldn't have been enough steel to build the Metro. After the War, Stalin wanted skyscrapers. He had seven of the ugliest ornate Ghostbuster type wedding cake buildings constructed, while other major cities were using the International Style.


Fedot Sychov painted Russian and non-Russian citizens in the villages of the Volga Federal District. The paintings look similar but not the people. Mordvinians continued to wear national clothing but through Socialism, the females are now literate.

           Fedot Sychkov 1870–1958. Clockwise from upper left. Girl Friends, 1935. 

           The Mordvinian Teacher, 1937. School Girl, 1937. Girl in a Blue Scarf, 1935

Semyon Chuikov, The Daughter of Soviet Kyrgyzia, 1948

Kyrgyzia (Kyrgyz SSR) was one of the 5 Central Asian Soviet Republics . Semyon Chuikov, an ethnic Russian was born and spent most of his life in in Kyrgyzia. Ethnic Kyrgyz women were almost 100% illiterate before becoming part of the Soviet Union. The painting is typical of the Kyrgyz landscape with steppes and mountains. With her school uniform and books, she is a testimony to the Socialist triumph in Central Asia.

Tatyana Yablonskaya, Before the Start, 1947.

Tatyana Yablonskaya was a very popular Ukrainian artist. Before the Start was criticized in the journal Culture and Life for being under the influence of Impressionism. She wrote a reply, that was published, agreeing with the criticism and hoped her next painting, Bread, would be a corrective. Bread won a Stalin Prize, was accepted into the State Tretyakov Gallery, and was later used in a postage stamp. Older artists were personally attacking those artists who became famous in the 1930's and now held important posts in the art world.

Tatyana Yablonskaya, Bread, 1949.

Before the Start, about a skiing race without much Socialist content, was vulnerable to stylistic attacks. Stalin liked paintings of himself outdoors in bright light in an Impressionistic style. Plein air Impressionism with children makes it harder to believe any of the rumors about Stalin being ruthless and responsible for millions of deaths in purges or famines. 

Boris Vladimirski, Roses for Stalin, 1949

Alexsandr Gerasimov was one of the artists who persisted in the anti-Impressionism campaign, that was launched against Yablonskaya's Before the Start. Pejorative terms besides Impressionism included stylization, decoratism, cosmopolitism and modernism. Formalism was the worst sin an artist could commit. It is ironic that Gerasimov had used Impressionism during the 1930's and would still be influenced by it into the 1960's. The attacks on Impressionism were mainly after WWII up to the death of Stalin in 1953. With Nikita Khrushchev's denouncement of Stalin there was some relaxation in stylistic criticism.

Aleksandr Gerasimov, Portrait of Olga Lepeshinskaya, 1939.

Portrait of Olga Lepeshinskaya, that looks as if it were from a Degas and the Ballet exhibit, didn't ruin Gerasimov's career. The ballet was considered a cultural treasure of the Soviet Union. Painting in the style of Degas would elevate the status of the Soviet ballet and the prima ballerina. Gerasimov would win a Stalin Prize in 1941 for his portrait of Stalin and Voroshilov in the Kremlin. Olga Lepeshinskaya was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1951. 

                 Aleksandr Gerasimov, Stalin and

                 Voroshilov in the Kremlin, 1938. 

Aleksandr Gerasimov, Apple Tree Garden, 1930's

Alexander Gerasimov,  Family Portrait, 1934

Painting like a French Impressionist, might keep some paintings out the State museums. In 1981 the USSR issued a postage stamp of Alexander Gerasimov for a commemoration of his 100th birthday.

Yevgeny Oaks, a WWII battlefield veteran refused to adapt to the prevailing dogma. He was unable to get any of his works into museums or join any artist groups. His paintings did not have a Socialist message. They suffered from formalism with broad heavy brush strokes and too much abstraction. In a collective society artistic individualism is not a desired trait. Only after his death are his works successful and are now sold by private dealers.

Yevgeny Oaks, Top: Krannaya Prsenya,1954.
Bottom: At the Window, 1930's.

If there was an important Socialist message, such as citizens working collectively in the fields, a reasonable amount of Impressionism would be overlooked. 

Arkady Plastov, Haymaking, 1945.

Achmed Kitaev. We are Going to our New Life. c1950

In We are going to our New Life, there is more play of light and shadows, than there was in Yablonskaya's, Before the Start. However, there is a strong socialist message – the girls are carrying their diplomas and there also is a girl with non Russian features in the front row.



Landscapes did not have to have a specific Socialist message. Beautiful scenes of Mother Russia were patriotic. Socialist Realism should be considered a cultural and artistic policy rather than a specific art style. More impressionism could be used in landscapes because short broken brush strokes represent wind or water motion and not a foreign influence. Colors could be more expressive.

Dmitri Nalbandian, Autumn Landscape, 1954.

 Yuri Kugach, Spring Day, 1964.

Yuri Kugach, Summer in the Marshes, 1974.

Currently it is not possible to quantify the number of works that were made of political leaders, works that were pictorial myths under a red banner, landscapes free of a political message, or works with subtle messages to decode. Despite a temporary anti-Impressionism campaign in the late 1940's, Impressionism was a major style used in Socialist Realism in the Soviet Union.