Review of Documents from the Russian State Library and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, Regarding the Defense of Graduate Art Projects (Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Series, etc.), Also Known as “Creative Theses”, by Artists Pursuing the Degree of Candidate of Art History in the US SR

Abstract

According to Soviet Ministry of Higher Education Order No. 524 dated September 30, 1946, “On Measures to Enhance the Training of Graduate Students in Art Institutes”, the academic degree of Candidate of Art History could be conferred upon “an art practitioner, aspiring artist, for an artwork in their specialty, accompanied by the presentation and exhibition of the graduation work, along with pertinent drawings, studies and sketches”. Documents from the collections of the Russian State Library (RSL) and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RSALA) contain records of the defenses of graduate art projects (easel painting, monumental painting, sculpture, graphic series, theatrical decorative design), also known as “creative theses”, held from 1946 to 1956. Twenty-two defenses took place at the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, while twenty-one were held at the Surikov Moscow State Art Institute. The research conducted on library and archival resources enables the introduction of previously unstudied documents into scholarly discourse regarding the history of Soviet fine arts, the procedures for awarding academic degrees in the USSR, and creative postgraduate studies in the country's leading art institutes. These dissertations explore important themes of Soviet history and social life, many of which hold undeniable cultural and historical significance, with some being included in the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation.