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Russia - T3 > Art and Culture > Flashcards

Flashcards in Art and Culture Deck (17)
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1
Q

Summarise Lenin’s attitude to art.

A
  1. Proletkult + avant garde
  2. End of Proletkult + re-emphasis on traditional arts
  3. Consistent use of cinema and photography for propaganda
2
Q

Why did Lenin terminate Proletkult?

A
  1. Lenin argued culture should be universal and shouldn’t belong to one class (e.g just the proletariat)
  2. Work produced was too avant-garde for working people to understand
  3. Proletkult was independent from party control
3
Q

Lenin : Art + Propaganda

Who made simple graphic posters supporting the communist regime during the civil war?

A

Vladimir Mayakovsky

4
Q

Lenin : Art + Propaganda

Who was the most famous avant-garde photographer, who used techniques such as photomontage to make posters celebrating the revolution?

A

Alexander Rodchenko

5
Q

Lenin : Art + Propaganda

Who was an experimental film-maker who used experimental techniques such as slow motion to produce Communist documentary films called Kino-Pravda.

A

Dziga Vertov

6
Q

Summarise Stalin’s attitude to art.

A
  1. Social Realism - realistic style + industrial themes

2. Paintings showing government figures (Lenin+Stalin)

7
Q

Summarise Stalin’s attitude to literature.

A
  1. Simple plot that ordinary people could follow

2. Subject related to building socialism

8
Q

Give an example of a celebrated book of the Stalin era.

A

‘Cement’ by Gladkov, published in 1924

9
Q

Why did Khrushchev introduce cultural thaws?

A
  1. wanted to form an alliance between creative intellectuals
  2. wanted to set himself apart from Stalin
10
Q

When were the three cultural thaws?

A
  1. 1953-1954
  2. 1956-1957
  3. 1961-1962
11
Q

Why did Khrushchev introduce cultural freezes as well as thaws?

A
  • Khrushchev was prepared to tolerate some freedom of expression, but not widespread non-conformity
  • during each thaw, artists went further than the government would allow
12
Q

Give an example of thaw artists going too far under one of Khrushchev’s thaws.

A
  • 1954

- Boris Pasternak’s novel Dr Zhivago was critical of Leninism

13
Q

Give an example of how Khrushchev limited freedom of expression.

A
  • ‘style hunters’ and ‘loose women’ in the 1950s and 60s

- propaganda posters accused women following western fashion to be frivolous and sexually promiscuous

14
Q

Give an example of how Brezhnev showed that he had abandoned the cultural liberalisation of the Khrushchev period.

A
  • Show Trials of author Andrei Sinyavsky for producing ‘anti-soviet propaganda’ and sent to a labour camp
  • Andrei Sinyavsky had risen to fame under Khrushchev
15
Q

How did Khrushchev challenge non-conformity?

A
  • art/ propaganda posters encouraged ‘popular oversight’

- this encouraged people to challenge non-conformist behaviour such as laziness and alcoholism

16
Q

How successful was Brezhnev at suppressing dissident artists?

A
  • limited success

- although some events were raided by police, many artists worked and took part in secret shows

17
Q

Give an example of dissidents producing illegal art under Brezhnev.

A
  • in the 1970s the Moscow Conceptualists published samizdat literature exposing the dullness of life under the Communists.