Socreālisma klasiskā modeļa adaptācijas Latvijā pirmajā padomju varas gadā (1940–1941)

• Authors: Pelše Stella

Title variants

EN

Adaptations of the Classical Model of Socialist Realism during the First Soviet Year (1940–1941) in Latvia

• Languages of publication: LV

Abstracts

EN

The article focuses on the short Soviet episode between the independence period and the subsequent German occupation, introducing Socialist Realism as a new paradigm for Latvian art theory and criticism. The doctrine had emerged in the USSR during the 1930s and was codified at the First Congress of Soviet Writers (1934) by Stalin’s propagandist Andrei Zhdanov in his famous speech. He proclaimed writers to be “engineers of human souls”. They were urged to represent reality in its “revolutionary development”, educate the working people in the spirit of socialism as well as to use the best achievements of all previous epochs for these purposes. Reflections of the regime’s officials as well as artists, art historians and critics on Socialist Realism appeared in Latvian periodicals by mid-1940. One of the most theoretical articles was published in the newly founded literature monthly Karogs by the renowned Russian-born art historian Boris Vipper (1888–1967) who came to Latvia in 1924 and returned to Moscow in 1941. He saw Socialist Realism in a quite Hegelian mode. Socialist Realism was popularised in articles praising Russian and Soviet art, for instance, on the Realist trend of the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers). More general surveys emerged too, mainly extolling the flourishing present in particular kinds of arts. Most of these surveys appeared soon after the occupation, likely aiming to quickly educate the public in the newly conquered territories. Some positive reviews on the USSR cultural scene even predated the occupation for example, in the magazine Atpūta whose editors had been involved with the Society for the Cultural Rapprochement with the USSR, functioning as a de facto recruiting agency for the future puppet government. A different tendency was to speculate on local precursors of Socialist Realism or at least some similar phenomena. Most of these pieces emerged in late 1940 and 1941, suggesting some time was needed in the attempt to inscribe the local heritage into the new paradigm. The first Soviet year reveals both continuities and interruptions in regard to the previous period. On the one hand, authors still promoted the traditional neo-realist approach and critique of avant-garde extremes; on the other, they sometimes radically shifted their opinions in favour of Russian art. Most seemingly attempted to somehow “tame” the new doctrine, associating it with established artistic values; these, however, could be exonerated only after Stalin’s death (1953) that started the modernisation and actual disintegration of Socialist Realism.

Keywords

EN

SOCIALIST REALISM; ART THEORY; ART CRITICISM; SOVIET ART; RUSSIAN ART; LATVIAN ART

• Publisher: Institute of Art History of the Latvian Academy of Art and Art History Research Support Foundation
• Journal: Makslas Vesture un Teorija
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 25
• Pages: 55-69

Contributors

author

Pelše Stella

• Art Academy of Latvia Institute of Art History, Akadēmijas laukums 1-302, Riga LV-1050, Latvia