Style as a Reflection of Ideology of the Authorities

Abstract

One aspect of style is its conformity or opposition to the ideology of the dominant authorities. When new authorities want to emphasize their isolation from their predecessors, they use art and architecture as ideological propaganda, by creating a new style. A striking example is ideology in the so-called “Stalinist Empire”, and the architecture of Ukraine, Poland and Romania during the socialist period. The architecture did not demonstrate any continuity with previous styles and just tried to emphasize its non-identity with the “old world”. At the same time in the Soviet Union, for example, socialist art was not homogeneous and radically changed in accordance with the Communist party line – from the stage of Bolshevist ideology formation in the 1920s to Stalinist authoritarianism in the 1940s and early 1950s. Ingrowth of traditional culture into socialist ideology is examplified by China with a national version of postmodernism, in contrast to European postmodernism, completely devoid of irony and aimed at revealing the dominant ideology with traditional Chinese architectural techniques. At the same time, the foreign policy task is to promote Chinese culture in a somewhat simplified, “export” version, and within the country – to emphasize the historical continuity and sacredness of authorities.