DOCSLIB.ORG

The Representation of American Visual Art in the USSR During the Cold War (1950S to the Late 1960S) by Kirill Chunikhin

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Representation of American Visual Art in the USSR During the Cold War (1950S to the Late 1960S) by Kirill Chunikhin The Representation of American Visual Art in the USSR during the Cold War (1950s to the late 1960s) by Kirill Chunikhin a Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History and Theory of Arts Approved Dissertation Committee _______________________________ Prof. Dr. Isabel Wünsche Jacobs University, Bremen Prof. Dr. Corinna Unger European University Institute, Florence Prof. Dr. Roman Grigoryev The State Hermitage, St. Petersburg Date of Defense: June 30, 2016 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. vii Statutory Declaration (on Authorship of a Dissertation) ........................................... ix List of Figures ............................................................................................................ x List of Attachments ................................................................................................. xiv Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 PART I. THE SOVIET APPROACH: MAKING AMERICAN ART ANTI- AMERICAN………………………………………………………………………………..11 Chapter 1. Introduction to the Totalitarian Art Discourse: Politics and Aesthetics in the Soviet Union ....................................................................................................... 11 Arts under Administrative Control ................................................................... 11 Arts Under Ideology ......................................................................................... 14 Soviet Art versus … ......................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2. Criticizing the Unseen: Denouncing American Modernism .................. 21 The Aesthetic War and American Art .............................................................. 23 Insane Artists .................................................................................................... 34 Laughing at Modernism ................................................................................... 37 Chapter 3. Advocating Realism and the First Non-English History of American Visual Art ................................................................................................................. 46 Tracing the History of American Art ............................................................... 48 Between “Objective” and “Prejudiced” ........................................................... 55 Chapter 4. At Home Among Strangers: The Myth of Rockwell Kent ..................... 57 1953–1957: Assembling the First Kent's Show ............................................... 58 ii 1957 Exhibition and/as Politics ........................................................................ 62 Ignored at Home, Welcomed Abroad .............................................................. 66 The Gift ............................................................................................................ 70 More Than a Great Artist ................................................................................. 73 The Myth of Rockwell Kent ............................................................................ 77 Chapter 5. More American Art in the Soviet Union ................................................ 83 Exhibiting American Art from Soviet Collections: Protesting the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow ....................................................... 83 “In the Name of Peace! In the Name of Friendship!”: Gifting Art to the USSR .......................................................................................................................... 85 “A Small Pebble Making Waves” .................................................................... 92 Anton Refregier: Another “Big Friend of the USSR” ..................................... 96 Conclusion Part I .................................................................................................... 105 PART II. THE AMERICAN APPROACH: EXHIBITING ANTI-SOVIET ART ............ 110 Chapter 6. Politics and Exhibitions in the United States ........................................ 111 American Art Abroad: A Difficult Start ........................................................ 111 Modernism and Communism ......................................................................... 114 USIA and Visual Art in the Soviet Union ...................................................... 118 Chapter 7. The American National Exhibition in Moscow, 1959 .......................... 121 Assembling Art .............................................................................................. 124 Freedom, Diversity, and Peoples' Art on Display .......................................... 127 Reception and Response ................................................................................ 136 What Was It? .................................................................................................. 146 Chapter 8. The Exhibition Graphic Arts: USA, 1963–1964 ................................... 150 The Exhibition Design ................................................................................... 150 Arranging the Tour ......................................................................................... 159 iii Soviet Inspection ............................................................................................ 163 Travelling Around the Soviet Union .............................................................. 165 Impact ............................................................................................................. 171 Conclusion Part II ................................................................................................... 176 Afterword ............................................................................................................... 179 Figures .................................................................................................................... 186 Attachments ............................................................................................................ 220 Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 222 iv Abstract During the first two decades of the Cold War, Soviet institutions hosted dozens of exhibitions of American art. These exhibitions introduced works of a variety of styles, from figurative to abstract, to millions of Soviet citizens. Based on unique original materials from American and Russian archives, my thesis examines this extensive showcasing of American art. In my thesis, I argue that American visual art in the Soviet Union was subject to two distinct approaches to representation. The first approach was epitomized by Soviet-organized exhibitions of American leftist figurative artists such as Rockwell Kent. When promoting Kent, hardly a leading artist in the postwar United States, Soviet propaganda maintained that Kent’s art was underappreciated in America because of the artist’s sympathies for socialism and adherence to figurativeness. Soviet propaganda further argued that American bourgeois society preferred abstract art and was unable to appreciate genuine realist art. Ultimately, by representing Kent as a marginalized artist suffering under capitalism, the Soviet Union accused America's capitalist society of suppressing Kent—a genuine and genius artist from the Soviet point of view. As a result, Soviet discussions of Kent became intertwined with criticism of the United States and served as anti-American propaganda. The intersection of the Soviet discourse on American art with Soviet anti-Americanism was not limited to the case of Kent but was also relevant to other figurative and abstract artists, among them Anton Refregier, Emmy Lou Packard, Jackson Pollock and many others, whom I examine in my thesis. The second approach was that of American institutions such as the United States Information Agency (USIA) which organized exhibitions showcasing contemporary American art, from figurative painting such as those by William v Glackens to abstract expressionist painting such as by Willem de Kooning. The organizers assumed that the diversity of styles in America would contrast with Socialist Realism—the only officially accepted artistic method in Soviet art. American art would reveal to the Soviet people that American artists had significantly greater freedom of expression than their Soviet counterparts. The curators expected these contrasting levels of freedom of expression to be particularly obvious for a visitor who compared experimental American abstract expressionism with relatively conservative Socialist Realism. Thus, American art, highlighting the issue of freedom of expression within capitalism, became subversive and anti-Soviet: it implicitly criticized the totalitarian Soviet Union where official artists lacked freedom and were obliged to work within a single artistic framework: Socialist Realism. Analyzing the organization and promotion of exhibitions as well as discussions of American art in academia and in the press, this thesis will demonstrate that both Soviet and American approaches to the representation of American visual art in the USSR involved intentionally complex campaigns.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lenin and the Russian Civil War
    Lenin and the Russian Civil War In the months and years after the fall of Tsar Nicholas II’s government, Russia went through incredible, often violent changes. The society was transformed from a peasant society run by an absolute monarchy into a worker’s state run by an all- powerful group that came to be known as the Communist Party. A key to this transformation is Vladimir Lenin. Who Was Lenin? • Born into a wealthy middle-class family background. • Witnessed (when he was 17) the hanging of his brother Aleksandr for revolutionary activity. • Kicked out his university for participating in anti- Tsarist protests. • Took and passed his law exams and served in various law firms in St. Petersburg and elsewhere. • Arrested and sent to Siberia for 3 years for transporting and distributing revolutionary literature. • When WWI started, argued that it should become a revolution of the workers throughout Europe. • Released and lived mostly in exile (Switzerland) until 1917. • Adopted the name “Lenin” (he was born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) in exile to hide his activities from the Tsar’s secret police. Lenin and the French Revolution Lenin admired the revolutionaries in France 100 years before his time, though he believed they didn’t go far enough – too much wealth was left in middle class hands. His Bolsheviks used the chaotic and incomplete nature of the French Revolution as a guide - they believed that in order for a communist revolution to succeed, it would need firm leadership from a small group of party leaders – a very different vision from Karl Marx. So, in some ways, Lenin was like Robin Hood – taking from the rich and giving to the poor.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Article
    Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 144 3rd International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education (ICADCE 2017) Social and Historical Environment of the Society of Moscow Artists Elena Lomova Moscow State Academic Art Institution named after V.I. Surikov Moscow, Russia Abstract—The article is concerned with the social and later became the first chairperson of the Society of Moscow historical conditions of forming the Society of Moscow Artists Artists (OMKh). Grabar shared similar vision of art as (OMKh), whose members had covered a long way from an painters from Mir Iskusstva, who popularized the epatage art group the Jack of Diamonds to the society standing individualism, the disengagement of art from political and at the origins of Socialist Realism. socials issues, and paid particular attention to the legacies of the past and especially to Russia‘s national cultural traditions. Keywords—OMKh; The Jack of Diamonds; futurists; The group‘s ‗leftists‘, where the ―Russian avant-garde‖ Socialist Realism; art societies in the 1920s and 1930s occupied a special place, had shaken even more the conventional assumptions about art, dramatically influencing I. INTRODUCTION further development of world art. th The first half of the 20 century was rich in the landmark Meantime, Russian art continued to shift away from the events that could not but influence art, one of the most reality to a non-figurative world, as if not wishing to reflect sensual areas of human activity, sensitive to the slightest horrors happening in the country. Whereas the artists from fluctuations in public life. We can trace their obvious Mir Iskusstva were dipping into the dreams of the past, the repercussions in art while considering the historical events of th avant-garde artists were generally anxious for the future and the early 20 century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev 1973
    The Diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev 1973 Donated by A.S. Chernyaev to The National Security Archive Translated by Anna Melyakova Edited by Svetlana Savranskaya http://www.nsarchive.org Translation © The National Security Archive, 2013 The Diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev, 1973 http://www.nsarchive.org January 6, 1973 Even though it’s Saturday, I spent the whole day at work. We’re preparing yet another report on the International Communist Movement [ICM] for Ponomarev. The only satisfaction I get out of it is seeing how much better I can do the work than the “guys” (consultants), and naturally, they willingly submit to my skill. But you can’t respect a person who hasn’t learned anything after ten years on the job. We’ve got a circus going on with the dual management of the Department by Kuskov and Zagladin. Kuskov is tongue-tied and nonsensical, which is probably a reflection of his dulled intellect and tired brain that was subject to too much alcohol in its day. Plus, Kuskov did not have proper training or develop a good work ethic when he was young. Zagladin is not exactly using him because of this, but he finds his helplessness annoying, because it steals time from his subordinates, not to mention the incomprehensible tasks he gives them. I am reading Bykovsky. January 8, 1973 There is a flu epidemic in Moscow, they say that 70,000 people get sick every day (citing statistics from the city committee). It’s probably a lie. But there are many sick people around. The day before yesterday I met with a delegation from the Austrian Communist Party.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian and Soviet Views of Modern Western Art
    Russian and Soviet Views of Modern Western Art 1890s to Mid-1930s EDITED BY ILI A DORO NTC H E N KO V TRANSLATED BY CHARLESROUGLE CONSULTING EDITOR NINA GURIANOVA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY LOS ANGELES LONDON CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 RUSSIAN CRITICISM BEFORE THE REVOLUTION: 1890S-1917 I Facing Europe: Impressions, Contacts, and Criticisms 27 1 Mark Antokol'skii, "Notes on Art" (1897] 28 2 Igor' Grabar', "Decline or Renaissance? A Survey of Contemporary Trends in Art" (1897] 30 3 Vladimir Stasov, Nineteenth-Century Art: Painting (1901 ] 32 4 Vasily Kandinsky, "An Artist's Text" (1918] 34 5 Andrei Belyi, On the Border of Two Centuries (1930) 35 6 Pavel Muratov, "On Grand Art" (1907) 36 7 Sergei Diaghilev [and Dmitrii Filosofov], "The Bases of Artistic Judgment" (1899] .... 40 8 Sergei Diaghilev, "European Exhibitions and Russian Painters" (1896) 41 9 Sergei Diaghilev, "The Exhibition in Helsingfors" [18991 42 10 Vladimir Stasov, "Exhibitions" [1898] 43 11 Grigorii Miasoedov, Letter to Vladimir Stasov (1898) 45 12 Vladimir Stasov, "The Court of Miracles" (1899) 46 13 Igor'Grabar', "Around European Exhibitions" (1904) 48 14 Vasily Kandinsky, "A Letter from Munich" (1909-10) 50 11 Western Influences: Symbolism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and the Golden Fleece Exhibitions 55 15 Ivan Konevskoi, "Bocklin's Painting" (1900) 57 16 Alexandre Benois, "Maurice Denis" (1901) 59 17 Igor' Grabar', "Around Europe" (1902) 61 18 Alexandre Benois, "An Artist's Conversations: 1. On Impressionism" (1899)
    [Show full text]
  • Becoming Tools for Artistic Consciousness of the People
    34 commentary peer-reviewed article 35 that existed in the time of the Russian of the transformations in the urban space contents Revolution and those political events that of an early Soviet city. By using the dys- 33 Introduction, Irina Seits & Ekaterina influenced its destiny and to reflect on topian image of Mickey Mouse as the de- Kalinina the reforms in media, literature, urban sired inhabitant of modernity introduced peer-reviewed articles space and aesthetics that Russia was go- by Benjamin in “Experience and Poverty” 35 Becoming tools for artistic ing through in the post-revolutionary Seits provides an allegorical and com- consciousness of the people. decades. parative interpretation of the substantial The higher art school and changes in the living space of Moscow independent arts studios Overview of that were witnessed by Benjamin. in Petrograd (1918–1921), the contributions Mikhail Evsevyev Mikhail Evsevyev opens this issue with TORA LANE CONTRIBUTES in this issue with 45 Revolutionary synchrony: an analysis of the reorganization of the her reading of Viktor Pelevin’s Chapaev i A Day of the World, Robert Bird Higher Artistic School that was initiated Pustota (transl. as Buddha’s Little Finger or 53 Mickey Mouse – the perfect immediately after the Bolshevik Revolu- Clay Machine Gun), by situating her analy- tenant of an early Soviet city, tion in order to make art education ac- ses within the contemporary debates on Irina Seits cessible to the masses and to promote art realism and simulacra. She claims that Becoming 63 The inverted myth. Viktor as an important tool for the social trans- Pelevin, in his story about the period of Pelevin’s Buddhas little finger, formations in the Soviet state.
    [Show full text]
  • A Finding Aid to the Perls Galleries Records, 1937-1997, in the Archives of American Art
    A Finding Aid to the Perls Galleries Records, 1937-1997, in the Archives of American Art Julie Schweitzer January 15, 2009 Archives of American Art 750 9th Street, NW Victor Building, Suite 2200 Washington, D.C. 20001 https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions https://www.aaa.si.edu/ Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Historical Note.................................................................................................................. 2 Scope and Content Note................................................................................................. 3 Arrangement..................................................................................................................... 3 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 4 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 5 Series 1: Correspondence, 1937-1995.................................................................... 5 Series 2: Negatives, circa 1937-1995.................................................................. 100 Series 3: Photographs, circa 1937-1995.............................................................. 142 Series 4: Exhibition, Loan, and Sales Records, 1937-1995................................
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Land Reform in Post-Communist Europe
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87938-5 - The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village: Politics and Property Rights in the Black Earth Jessica Allina-Pisano Excerpt More information Introduction Land Reform in Post-Communist Europe In December 1991, as the flag of the Soviet Union flew its last days over the Kremlin, a small crowd armed with crutches and wheelchair wheels stormed the regional state administration building in an eastern Ukrainian city. The city, Kharkiv, lies fifty miles from the Russian border.1 The protesters were a group of senior citizens and disabled people from the Saltivka housing development in Moskovsky district, an area of the city named for its location on the road to the Soviet metropolis. The group had gathered to demand land for garden plots. The protesters had specific land in mind. The land lay at the eastern edge of the city, bordering the Saltivka housing development to the west and the fields of one of the most successful agricultural collectives in the region to the east. That farm, named Ukrainka, was among the biggest dairy producers in the area. Food supplies in city markets, however, had become unpredictable and expensive. Residents of Saltivka wanted land to grow produce for themselves and their families. In response, the Kharkiv district executive committee ordered that Ukrainka relinquish nearly 300 hectares of land for garden plots, in addition to 75 hectares already alienated for that purpose the previous spring. Members of the Ukrainka collective objected to the proposed plan, 1 This account is based on a series of newspaper articles about the incident in a Kharkiv regional paper: M.
    [Show full text]
  • Regionallst PAINTING and AMERICAN STUDIES Regionalism
    REGiONALlST PAINTING AND AMERICAN STUDIES KENNETH J. LABUDDE Regionalism in American painting brings to mind immediately the period of the 1930's when the Middlewesterners JohnSteuart Curry, Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton enjoyed great reputation as the_ painters of Ameri­ can art. Curry, the Kansan; Benton, the Missourian; and Wood, the Iowan, each wandered off to New York, to Paris, to the great world of art, but each came home again to Kansas City, Cedar Rapids and Madison, Wisconsin. Only one of the three, Benton, is still living. At the recent dedication of his "Independence and the Opening of the West" in the Truman Library the ar­ tist declared it was his last big work, for scaffold painting takes too great a toll on a man now 72. Upon this occasion he enjoyed the acclaim of those gathered, but as a shrewdly intelligent, even intellectual man, he may have reflected that Wood and Curry, both dead foi* close to twenty years now, are slipping into obscur­ ity except in the region of the United States which they celebrated. Collec­ tors, whether institutional or private, who have the means and the interests to be a part of the great world have gone on to other painters. There are those who will say so much the worse for them, but I am content not to dwell on that issue but to speculate instead about art in our culture and the uses of art in cultural studies. I will explain that I am not convinced by those who hold with the conspir­ acy theory of art history, whether it be a Thomas Craven of yesterday or a John Canaday of today.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Museums Visit More Than 80 Million Visitors, 1/3 of Who Are Visitors Under 18
    Moscow 4 There are more than 3000 museums (and about 72 000 museum workers) in Russian Moscow region 92 Federation, not including school and company museums. Every year Russian museums visit more than 80 million visitors, 1/3 of who are visitors under 18 There are about 650 individual and institutional members in ICOM Russia. During two last St. Petersburg 117 years ICOM Russia membership was rapidly increasing more than 20% (or about 100 new members) a year Northwestern region 160 You will find the information aboutICOM Russia members in this book. All members (individual and institutional) are divided in two big groups – Museums which are institutional members of ICOM or are represented by individual members and Organizations. All the museums in this book are distributed by regional principle. Organizations are structured in profile groups Central region 192 Volga river region 224 Many thanks to all the museums who offered their help and assistance in the making of this collection South of Russia 258 Special thanks to Urals 270 Museum creation and consulting Culture heritage security in Russia with 3M(tm)Novec(tm)1230 Siberia and Far East 284 © ICOM Russia, 2012 Organizations 322 © K. Novokhatko, A. Gnedovsky, N. Kazantseva, O. Guzewska – compiling, translation, editing, 2012 [email protected] www.icom.org.ru © Leo Tolstoy museum-estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, design, 2012 Moscow MOSCOW A. N. SCRiAbiN MEMORiAl Capital of Russia. Major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation center of Russia and the continent MUSEUM Highlights: First reference to Moscow dates from 1147 when Moscow was already a pretty big town.
    [Show full text]
  • Read the Full PDF
    en Books published to date in the continuing series o .:: -m -I J> SOVIET ADVANCES IN THE MIDDLE EAST, George Lenczowski, 1971. 176 C pages, $4.00 ;; Explores and analyzes recent Soviet policies in the Middle East in terms of their historical background, ideological foundations and pragmatic application in the 2 political, economic and military sectors. n PRIVATE ENTERPRISE AND SOCIALISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST, Howard S. Ellis, m 1970. 123 pages, $3.00 en Summarizes recent economic developments in the Middle East. Discusses the 2- significance of Soviet economic relations with countries in the area and suggests new approaches for American economic assistance. -I :::I: TRADE PATTERNS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, Lee E. Preston in association with m Karim A. Nashashibi, 1970. 93 pages, $3.00 3: Analyzes trade flows within the Middle East and between that area and other areas of the world. Describes special trade relationships between individual -C Middle Eastern countries and certain others, such as Lebanon-France, U.S .S.R.­ C Egypt, and U.S.-Israel. r­ m THE DILEMMA OF ISRAEL, Harry B. Ellis, 1970. 107 pages, $3.00 m Traces the history of modern Israel. Analyzes Israel 's internal political, eco­ J> nomic, and social structure and its relationships with the Arabs, the United en Nations, and the United States. -I JERUSALEM: KEYSTONE OF AN ARAB-ISRAELI SETTLEMENT, Richard H. Pfaff, 1969. 54 pages, $2.00 Suggests and analyzes seven policy choices for the United States. Discusses the religious significance of Jerusalem to Christians, Jews, and Moslems, and points out the cultural gulf between the Arabs of the Old City and the Western­ r oriented Israelis of West Jerusalem.
    [Show full text]
  • Detki V Kletke: the Childlike Aesthetic in Soviet Children's Literature and Unofficial Poetry
    Detki v kletke: The Childlike Aesthetic in Soviet Children's Literature and Unofficial Poetry The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Morse, Ainsley. 2016. Detki v kletke: The Childlike Aesthetic in Soviet Children's Literature and Unofficial Poetry. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493521 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Detki v kletke: The Childlike Aesthetic in Soviet Children’s Literature and Unofficial Poetry A dissertation presented by Ainsley Elizabeth Morse to The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Slavic Languages and Literatures Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April 2016 © 2016 – Ainsley Elizabeth Morse. All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Professor Stephanie Sandler Ainsley Elizabeth Morse Detki v kletke: The Childlike Aesthetic in Soviet Children’s Literature and Unofficial Poetry Abstract Since its inception in 1918, Soviet children’s literature was acclaimed as innovative and exciting, often in contrast to other official Soviet literary production. Indeed, avant-garde artists worked in this genre for the entire Soviet period, although they had fallen out of official favor by the 1930s. This dissertation explores the relationship between the childlike aesthetic as expressed in Soviet children’s literature, the early Russian avant-garde and later post-war unofficial poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • Edith Halpert & Her Artists
    Telling Stories: Edith Halpert & Her Artists October 9 – December 18, 2020 Charles Sheeler (1883-1965), Home Sweet Home, 1931, conte crayon and watercolor on paper, 11 x 9 in. For Edith Halpert, no passion was merely a hobby. Inspired by the collections of artists like Elie Nadelman, Robert Laurent, and Hamilton Easter Field, Halpert’s interest in American folk art quickly became a part of the Downtown Gallery’s ethos. From the start, she furnished the gallery with folk art to highlight the “Americanness” of her artists. Halpert stated, “the fascinating thing is that folk art pulls in cultures from all over the world which we have utilized and made our own…the fascinating thing about America is that it’s the greatest conglomeration” (AAA interview, p. 172). Halpert shared her love of folk art with Charles Sheeler and curator Holger Cahill, who was the original owner of this watercolor, Home Sweet Home, 1931. The Sheelers filled their home with early American rugs and Shaker furniture, some of which are depicted in Home Sweet Home, and helped Halpert find a saltbox summer home nearby, which she also filled with folk art. As Halpert recalled years later, Sheeler joined her on trips to Bennington cemetery to look at tombstones she considered to be the “first folk art”: I used to die. I’d go to the Bennington Cemetery. Everybody thought I was a queer duck. People used to look at me. That didn’t bother me. I went to that goddamn cemetery, and I went to Bennington at least four times every summer…I’d go into that cemetery and go over those tombstones, and it’s great sculpture.
    [Show full text]