Soviet Art & Crafts

Art under Soviet rule was highly a constrained enterprise. This does not mean that Soviet artists were lacking in technical skills, expression, or innovation. But it did mean that these qualities were often subtle, nuanced--easy to dismiss or to fail to comprehend. Nostalgia or pride in tradition--these, in the context of Soviet governance, were distrusted and suspect. Collaboration with Soviet aims--this is regarded now as naivete or perversity.

The art of this time will come to speak for itself. In the meantime--these pages are a reflection of my own attempt to catalog and understand some of the Soviet "minor" arts.

Postcards

I came late to an appreciation of Soviet Postcards.  When I visited Ukraine in the mid-70s, I was given several postcard sets. I didn't think much of them at the time. Lately, however, I have rediscovered the imagery. I don't have a serious collection--but, now, I am definitely enjoying the imagery.

My true favorites are (at least for this week!) Irina Iskrinskaya and V. Kanevsky. Iskrinskaya for her sense of humor, and Kanevsky for his beautiful wet-on-wet watercolor technique. But there are many, many lovely images. I am particularly fond of the M. Velichkna International Women's Day image of a young woman that I have used on my home page.

The period during which these cards were issued is clearly delineated with an end date in early 1991.  After that point, artists worked with less restraint, and, to my eye at least, there is a clear and fast movement away from some of the old style limitations.  To my eye, and in this particular format, the result has been more of a homogenization of a product than a bloom of artistic creativity.

Soviet Postcards

Porcelain -- Lomonosov, Polonne, & Gorodnitsa &c

Polonne Porcelain Figurines

Lomonosov Porcelain Figurines

Why Soviet/Russian/Ukrainian ornamental figurines?  I have fond memories of visiting my grandmother's circle of friends as a child. Many of these households possessed a figurine or two--enough to stoke my imagination and acquisitive desires. My mother could not have been less interested, and as these were quite expensive (not least from my child's viewpoint), I never got to own even one for myself until I was an adult.

I own several Polonne figurines, which I brought home from my grandmother's apartment after her passing. I suspect that I love them all the more for owning only two, but I regularly imagine how I'd like to expand my collection. This page allows me to indulge that desire without acquiring so many figures that I cease to enjoy them as individual objects.

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