Искусство РСФСР

Poster art was immensely important during the war. The very day after the treacherous attack by the nazi invaders on the Soviet Union the poster Destroy the Enemy without Mercy! appeared in the streets. TASS windows were produced in many cities. They told people about military events, they appealed to them to defend their Socialist Motherland, and they extolled the heroic deeds of soldiers. In besieged Leningrad many artists — drawers, sculptors and painters — turned to the art of the poster. “The Fighting Pencil” group started the regular production of posters. Posters by V. Serov, A. Kazantsev, I.Serebriany, and V.Pinchuk attained fame, as did the graphic sheets by V.Kurdov, G.Petrov, N.Tyrsa, V.Lebedev and many other artists working in Leningrad. Dramatic posters with a strong heroic note were executed by V. Ivanov, A.Kokorekin, D.Shma-rinov, V.Koretsky and others.

The war- and post-war years witnessed the creation of a number of outstanding works of easel painting, among them: Mother of a Partisan by S. Gerasimov,

Nazi Plane Flew by by A. Plastov, the Alexander Nevsky triptych by P. Korin, The Defence of Sevastopol

by A.Deyneka, Warrior-Liberator by Ye. Vuchetich, The End by the Kukryniksy, and also A. Pakhomov’s lithographs devoted to the heroic defence of Leningrad and the paintings of V. Serov, I. Serebriany, Yu. Neprintsev, A. Laktionov, A. Mylnikov, the sculptural portraits of war heroes by Mukhina, Ye. Vuchetich and N.Tomsky.

The patriotic upsurge of the Soviet people, their confidence in final victory over the enemy found interesting reflection in the pictures devoted to Russia’s heroic past.

The victorious conclusion of the Great Patriotic War set new tasks before the artists. In the first post-war decade many works of a high artistic standard were produced in every genre and every form of figurative art. In the main these achievements were in the field of genre painting. There were Plastov’s superb paintings of collective farm life (Tractor Drivers at Supper, Hay-making, Reaping)

or the paintings by S.Chuikov (Kirghiz Suite). Yet the work of some painters showed

a tendency towards pomposity, the use of hackneyed forms, towards a naturalism that was definitely detrimental to the general development of art, but was unable to halt it. After the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU socialist democracy and state organization reached a higher stage of development, thus opening up great possibilities for creative endeavour, for bold questing. Over the last few decades the thematic boundaries of all kinds of art have been broadened considerably, and art has been invaded by life in every one of its aspects. The “geography” of the subject has broadened, which was mainly due to a marked flourishing of art in the regions and autonomous republics of the RSFSR: Tataria, Bashkiria, Yakutia, Buryatia, North Ossetia, Karelia, etc. Strong creative groups of local artists have emerged, bringing their own specific features to the portrayal of life.