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After the
1920s, these experimental movements were replaced in the Soviet
Union by the state-sponsored style of socialist realism. This
officially sanctioned theory of art, literature and music prescribed
that all artistic work reflect and promote the ideals of socialist
society.
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However, a
whole number of gifted artists, such as Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Arkadi
Rylov, Pavel Korin, Sergei Gerasimov, Robert Falk, Arkadi Plastov,
Alexander Deineka, Yuri Pimenov and others, were able to break the
confines of the state imposed artistic principles in their work and
to portray the world in all its fascinating diversity.
As for
abstract and other non-conformist and avant-garde forms of art, they
had to be mainly confined to the artistic underground, as the
authorities strongly disapproved of this art for its allegedly
“anti-Soviet” content. Nevertheless, it has survived the strictures
and repression of the Soviet era nurtured by a few brave private
collectors and exhibited at private shows.
Today’s
Russian art is wide-ranging, displaying both the established trends,
from realism to pop art, and the more recent schools, such as
conceptualism. Many artists do not belong to any trend or guild
seeking to reflect in their work their personal vision, as well as
drawing inspiration from Russian and other nations’ artistic
traditions.
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