This text is an investigation of Soviet nonconformist art. It shows how in the decades of the Cold War before perestroika, artists risked imprisonment, exile and poverty in their quest for individual expression. In opposition to the government-prescribed style of Socialist Realism, these artists worked in the prohibited styles of abstraction, surrealism, expressionism, photorealism and conceptualism, depicting forbidden subject matter concerned with politics, religion or eroticism. They produced a body of work that embraced ...
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This text is an investigation of Soviet nonconformist art. It shows how in the decades of the Cold War before perestroika, artists risked imprisonment, exile and poverty in their quest for individual expression. In opposition to the government-prescribed style of Socialist Realism, these artists worked in the prohibited styles of abstraction, surrealism, expressionism, photorealism and conceptualism, depicting forbidden subject matter concerned with politics, religion or eroticism. They produced a body of work that embraced a wide range of media from painting and sculpture to posters, banners and performance art. This text provides in-depth documentation of this period in Russian and Soviet art history. The 18 included essays offer a broad perspective on the subject, addressing a variety of issues and themes.
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