On the Margins of Discourse? Visions of New Soviet Woman in Socialist Realistic Painting 1949–50

Abstract

This paper questions the marginalization of representations of women implied by the emphasis on New Man as signifier of Soviet identity in critical revisions of the Socialist Realist canon 1949–50. The approach, partly informed by feminist critical theory and pluralist, rather than totalitarian, models of Stalinist power, also engages critically with marginalizing tendencies in some recent histories. It suggests the existence of a significant discursive practice regarding the imaging of women, based on a concept of beauty defined by the patriotism and ‘partiinost ’ of the image when viewed in relation to currently dominant constructs of gender role and nationality.Discussion focuses on two pairs of paintings by Sergei Gerasimov and the Ukrainian Tatiana Yablonskaya – one pair delegitimated, the other pair legitimated during the period. The argument examines the differences between the visions of New Soviet Woman offered by the delegitimated and legitimated paintings, offering a speculative reading of the constitution and implications of the legitimated images of peasant women. These are suggested to embody active participation in reinforcing complex patriarchal mythologies – of ‘Mother Russia ’; Soviet woman as mother; the peasant as female and Ukrainians as peasants.