Art Critique in the Pages of the Newspaper “For Socialist Realism”

Abstract

In the 1930s–1950s, there existed a truly unique publication in Leningrad – the newspaper “For Socialist Realism”, which was the official organ of the All-Russian Academy of Arts and later became the organ of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. It was also the press organ of The I.E.Repin Institute of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. It was published from 1934 to 1941, then its publication resumed in 1945 and continued until 1954. The newspaper’s pages reflected all the major events of the Academy during this period, connected both to the cultural strategies of the Soviet state and the internal life of the Academy. Artistic and critical issues were discussed in various publications by art historians, artists and educators. Among the authors of this time featured in the newspaper were I.I. Brodsky, A.M. Gerasimov, E.F. Gollerbach, I.E. Grabar, S.K. Isakov, B.V. Ioganson, A.L. Kaganovich, P.E. Kornilov, S.V. Korovkevich, N.N. Punin etc. This article analyzes the newspaper’s activity, critical articles of that time, their reflection of the cultural paradigm of the era, and provides an assessment of the work of individual representatives of Russian art.