Synthesis of Art and Architecture in Eastern Europe, 1954-1958
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2016 Modernism with a Human Face: Synthesis of Art and Architecture in Eastern Europe, 1954-1958 Nikolaos Drosos City University of New York, Graduate Center How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1210 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] MODERNISM WITH A HUMAN FACE: SYNTHESIS OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN EASTERN EUROPE, 1954-1958 by Nikolaos Drosos A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2016 © 2016 NIKOLAOS DROSOS All Rights Reserved ! ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Art History to satisfy the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Romy Golan Date Chair of Examining Committee Prof. Rachel Kousser Date Executive Officer Prof. Claire Bishop Prof. Susan Buck-Morss Prof. Jean-Louis Cohen Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK ! iii Abstract MODERNISM WITH A HUMAN FACE: SYNTHESIS OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN EASTERN EUROPE, 1958-1958 by Nikolaos Drosos Advisor: Prof. Romy Golan The “synthesis of the arts,” which usually referred to the integration of murals, sculptures and reliefs into architecture, was a key aspect of art and architecture in many parts of the world during the 1950s, from Western Europe to Latin America. It was intended to “humanize” the increasingly industrialized modern architecture, while providing art with a platform from which to act outside of the confines of museums and galleries, in the “real” space of society. More importantly, the concept centered on the collaboration between people of different skills and backgrounds, such as artists, architects and craftspeople, who ought to form a cohesive creative community in order for synthesis to emerge. For this reason, the synthesis of the arts was often envisioned as a metaphor for the greater social order of the postwar period and thus, as will be argued here, became particularly prominent in periods of political transition. This dissertation focuses on such a time and place when the concept resurged: Post-Stalinist Eastern Europe, a time when both the aesthetics and politics of Stalinism had to be reformed in the hopes of attaining a “Communism with a Human Face.” The synthesis of the arts was key to this process, as it allowed for different social visions to be tested in the delimited space of art and architecture before being applied to society as a whole. At the same time, the term’s instability and inherent vagueness allowed its continued usage throughout this transition, and within distinct contexts. It ! iv could refer to a wide range of things, from interior design to murals and sculptures integrated into modernist architecture, and from immersive, multi-media environments to historicist architecture featuring ornaments in ceramic and stone. Each model represented a different mode of artistic production, as well as a different vision for art’s role under socialism. The dissertation thus compares such visions of synthesis, as both a theoretical construct and a practical application, in three Eastern European countries: the Soviet Union, the undisputed political center of the bloc; its largest satellite, the People’s Republic of Poland, which experienced a swift and dramatic de-Stalinization and subsequently became a center for reformist thought; and finally, Yugoslavia, whose efforts at developing its own brand of socialism began to bear fruit at the time, when the country emerged as a non-aligned, third pole within the Cold War. This geographical span is counterbalanced by a sharply focused chronology that allows for a close examination of this paradigm shift. Beginning in 1954, when the first signs of aesthetic change can be discerned, it concludes in 1958, when the new, “socialist-modern” mode of synthesis reached its apogee with the Eastern bloc pavilions at the Brussels World Fair. I argue that the synthesis of the arts constitutes a key element of reformist communist culture, a short-lived phase when a renewed faith in mass utopia was still possible, before the dissident culture of 1960s and 1970s Eastern Europe took hold. Still firmly inscribed within the official culture, the late-1950s practices examined here sought a difficult compromise between increasing art’s autonomy while preserving the social purpose assigned to it under communism. ! v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, my gratitude goes to my advisor, Romy Golan. She has been a true mentor that never ceased to support me, challenge me and trust my abilities, even when I did not. It was through her research and teaching that I first encountered the topic of the synthesis of the arts, and she encouraged me to make it my own. Claire Bishop has provided unwavering support, and has been an invaluable interlocutor and editor throughout the process. I am also grateful to Susan Buck-Morss and Jean-Louis Cohen, who joined my committee during the final stages of this dissertation, for deeply engaging with my work and for giving me valuable feedback. My studies were generously supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, a Chancellor’s Fellowship from the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as the Greek State Scholarships Foundation. The completion of this dissertation in its current form would have been impossible without a 24-month Chester Dale predoctoral fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery in Washington. My year of residence there was crucial for the development of this project, and for this I would like to thank dean Elizabeth Cropper and associate deans Peter Lukehart and Therese O’Malley. A number of other fellows at CASVA offered me advice and feedback: Robert Bork, Kate Cowcher, Hannah Friedman, Adam Jasienski, Paul Jaskot, David Pullins, Mary Roberts, Rachel Saunders, and Susan Siegfried. Many thanks to Vladimir Kulić, who read parts of the draft during his stay at CASVA and shared his own research with me. I have often relied on the help and generosity of archivists and scholars during my travels in Eastern Europe. I would like to express my gratitude to: Jadranka Vinterhalter, Vesna Meštrić, ! vi Maroje Mrduljaš and Jasna Galjer from Zagreb; Jola Gola from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw; and Isabelle Godineau from the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris. My work has benefitted immensely from my discussions with friends and colleagues: Joe Madura, Lindsay Caplan, Andrew Capetta, Janna Schoenberger and Nara Hohensee, who often read and commented on parts of my work. Their friendship has made this process significantly less lonely. I would also like to thank my parents, Costas and Thekli Drosos, for always encouraging my academic pursuits. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my beloved wife, Vesna. She has often been the first reader of my work and always my biggest support, whose love and partnership has sustained me through thick and thin. The final year of writing this dissertation coincided with the first year of life of our son, Vuk. He has already taught me so much, and I thank him. ! vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 Communism with a Human Face: The Historical Framework ....................................................9 CHAPTER 1: USSR ......................................................................................................................18 On the Lenin Hills, 1953 / 1958 .................................................................................................18 Re-Forms, 1954-56 ....................................................................................................................28 Ornament and Crime(s) ..............................................................................................................56 1956-58: Toward a Soviet Modernism ......................................................................................65 CHAPTER 2: POLAND ................................................................................................................77 A Soviet High-Rise in Warsaw ..................................................................................................77 A Socialist Renaissance .............................................................................................................89 Useful and Young Art ..............................................................................................................105 Towards an Open Form: Synthesis at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts .............................112 CHAPTER 3: YUGOSLAVIA ....................................................................................................127 Synthesis as the Telos of Modernism: The First Didactic Exhibition of Abstract Art ............127 A Socialist Neo-Avant-Garde: EXAT-51 ................................................................................139 “Synthesis of Art and Life”: Vjenceslav Richter .....................................................................150 Art and Production circa 1956 .................................................................................................159