Painting with Marxism

May 24, 2003 3:54 PM

Painting with Marxism. A gallery of socialist realism and the Mexican muralists, with a nice links section (such as the Chisholm Gallery's Russian, Spanish Civil War and Cuban posters. More at the Art of Marxism. (The children's literature page is quite intriguing).
posted by plep (10 comments total)

Wow! What a find Plep. Art must never die! Viva La Resistance!
posted by Keyser Soze at 4:18 PM on May 24, 2003

Painting with Marxism

Actually, I was going to have a show called that.
posted by Ayn Marx at 6:46 PM on May 24, 2003

Hooray for the artistic stylings of bloodthirsty marxists! Maybe we can get some art done by the Khmer Rouge painted in blood. /end troll
posted by insomnyuk at 10:25 PM on May 24, 2003

Hooray for the artistic stylings of bloodthirsty marxists!

Well put. Nice to see you again, insomnyuk.

Idealogies aside, even the Soviets came up with some amazing feats of design, despite the obvious unthinkable carnage.
posted by hama7 at 5:16 AM on May 25, 2003

I'm putting those soviet posters on my favorites. I just don't understand why the capitalists can't make posters that cool.

Nice to be back, hama7.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:03 AM on May 25, 2003

Here's taz's excellent post from several months ago on MoMA's Russian Avant-Garde Book exhibition, with some great links in the discussion to the wide array of pre-Socialist Realist painting, photography, design, sculpture, etc. in Russia and Central Europe at the time.

Before Socialist Realism was decreed under Stalin to be the official Soviet style, it was Constructivism (and a number of its predecessors and offshoots) that was considered to be the true revolutionary art. Good overview here, with a nice array of links.
posted by scody at 11:41 AM on May 25, 2003

Thanks for that. Here's another MoMA exhibit about Rodchenko.
posted by plep at 12:03 PM on May 25, 2003

(which scody also posted in taz's thread - thanks :) )
posted by plep at 12:05 PM on May 25, 2003

Anarchist Images: Posters from the Labadie Collection. 'In this exhibit you will see a sampling of images which chronicle the philosophies and objectives of anarchist organizations from around the world -- as expressed through the medium of the poster. '
posted by plep at 12:24 PM on May 25, 2003

The Epic of American Civilisation by Orozco.
posted by plep at 12:59 PM on May 25, 2003