Moscow's New Tretyakov Gallery Marks a Century Since the U.S.S.R. Was Founded
A new exhibition entitled "U.S.S.R. 100" at Moscow's New Tretyakov Gallery marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union, albeit at a fairly awkward time given Russia's ongoing invasion of another former Soviet republic and Russian society's deep polarization on the subject of its Soviet legacy.
The exhibition contains some 400 paintings, sculptures, and other artworks from the collections of the Russian and Belarusian Unions of Artists as well as from private collections and contemporary artists’ studios to present a surprisingly vibrant and varied cross-section of officially-sanctioned Soviet art.
The exhibition contains some 400 paintings, sculptures, and other artworks from the collections of the Russian and Belarusian Unions of Artists as well as from private collections and contemporary artists’ studios to present a surprisingly vibrant and varied cross-section of officially-sanctioned Soviet art.
The "U.S.S.R 100" exhibition opened on Dec. 30 and will run until Jan. 22.
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A woman walks past "Two Veterans Talking," a 1982 sculpture by Iulian Rukavishnikov.
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"Gorbachev as St Christopher," a 1990 sculpture by Leonid Baranov.
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A sculpture of the wartime allied leaders Winston Churchill (L), Franklin D. Roosevelt (C), and Josef Stalin (R).
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The sculpture depicts three leaders during the 1945 Yalta Conference.
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Visitors examine one of the many artworks at the exhibition.
Sergei Vedyashkin / Moskva News Agency
Although the U.S.S.R. was made up of 15 now-independent republics, Belarus was the only state other than Russia to take part in the exhibit.
Sergei Vedyashkin / Moskva News Agency
The New Tretyakov Gallery is housed in a modernist structure that was built in 1983 and designed by Soviet architects Yuri Sheverdyaev and Nikolai Sukoyan.
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The exhibition was curated by the Union of Artists of Russia, the successor organization to the U.S.S.R.'s Union of Artists.
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The Union of Artists was established by Stalin in 1932 and oversaw the rigid imposition of socialist realism as the Soviet Union's official artistic style, heralding the end of free artistic expression in the country.
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The New Tretyakov Gallery's permanent collection includes work by some of Russia's most famous 20th-century artists including Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Pavel Filonov, and Marc Chagall.
Sergei Vedyashkin / Moskva News Agency
