Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia!: Soviet Art Put to the Test

Editors Witkovsky (Moholy-Nagy) and Fore (Realism after Modernism) dutifully tackle the vast subject of Soviet art in this catalog accompanying an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. Featuring over 350 works of art from the two decades following the 1917 Revolution, the book breaks ground in applying an archeological framework to the study of art history. Rather than organize the study chronologically or by medium, the editors examine cultural “spaces”—the places where the works of art were seen and experienced—to explore how visual culture reinforced and merged with revolutionary ideology. In the home and storefront section, an essay by art historian Christina Kiaer shows artists encouraging a “new everyday life”: a feminist and technological approach to domestic spaces, scorning the merely decorative (i.e. “little flowers”) in favor of functional geometric designs. The chapters on theater, festivals, and demonstrations highlight artists’ attempts to erase the boundaries between artistic production and consumption. The plates depict a vast array of objects, movie stills, and photographs, some stunningly raw. These essays and images question assumptions about Soviet art, such as whether it only has purely propagandistic value, and invite readers to consider the work beyond the confines of the historical narrative of “a miscarried revolution.”Color photos. (July)