artistic standard were produced in every genre and every form of figurative art. In the main these achievements were in the field of genre painting. There were Plastov’s superb paintings of collective farm life
(Tractor Drivers at Supper,
Hay-making, Reaping) or the paintings by S.Chuikov
(Kirghiz Suite). Yet the work of some painters showed
a tendency towards pomposity, the use of hackneyed forms, towards a naturalism that was definitely detrimental to the general development of art, but was unable to halt it. After the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU socialist democracy and state organization reached a higher stage of development, thus opening up great possibilities for creative endeavour, for bold questing. Over the last few decades the thematic boundaries of all kinds of art have been broadened considerably, and art has been invaded by life in every one of its aspects. The “geography” of the subject has broadened, which was mainly due to a marked flourishing of art in the regions and autonomous republics of the RSFSR: Tataria, Bashkiria, Yakutia, Buryatia, North Ossetia, Karelia, etc. Strong creative groups of local artists have emerged, bringing their own specific features to the portrayal of life.
An important exhibition of works by artists from the autonomous republics of the RSFSR was held in Moscow in 1971. It gave the general public an opportunity to see the firm and fruitful ties of Soviet art and Russian artistic culture, the pictorial, graphic, and plastic traditions of the art schools of Moscow and Leningrad. These ties are very real, for many artists received their training at the art schools in Moscow and Leningrad. The atmosphere of creative questing characteristic of Russian Soviet painting and graphic art of the last decade has been of great importance for the development of art in the autonomous republics of the RSFSR. The artists in the republics freely transform the rich impressions derived from the life around them into works of art. Creative handling of the material, a wealth of emotional tones, imaginative solutions, and specific colour and plastic features are typical of their work. That is why there are grounds now for speaking not only of the good professional standards attained in the work of many artists, but, in a number of cases, also of the emergence of local national schools. The original, striking paintings of such talented and well-known Bashkir artists as A.Lutfullin, B.Domashnikov, A.Burziantsev and A.Sitdikov should be mentioned alongside the graphic works from Yakutia, represented by various series done by V. Vasilyev, A.Munkhalov, E.Sivtsev and L.Neofitov. Karelia has produced a strong team of artists: there are numerous sculptural portraits by L.Lankinen, thematic paintings by F.Nieminen, landscapes by S.Yuntunen and B.Pomortsev, all of a mature professional standard, with a precise, heightened feeling of our time and the character of our contemporaries. These features testify to the maturity of the creative collective of artists in the autonomous republics of the RSFSR, to its strong ties with the whole of Soviet culture and national tradition. The events of our day, of the history of the people, particular traits of human characters, specific features of daily life, of the countryside, are demonstrated in every painting, always with different poetic insight. Artists of the autonomous republics always aim at conveying the ideals of socialist society.
The broadening of thematic scope in the work of Russian artists is accompanied by a constant striving for enrichment of artistic form, by a search for expressive plasticity. An important factor in this process is that artists draw on the traditions of Russian, Soviet and world art, on early Russian painting, on the art of the early twentieth century with its questing for pictorial and constructive form, on the art of profound content and grandeur of form, on the art of the Renaissance masters. The younger generation of artists is attracted to the work of famous Soviet masters, above all, perhaps, to the work of Petrov-Vodkin. They also display a pronounced interest towards folk art, and towards the traditional, brightly coloured popular print or lubok in particular. The perfection of professional skill is becoming one of the most important tasks confronting Russian artists, who intensively search for an art form that will help establish great aesthetic values in art and facilitate the true-to-life portrayal of the very essence of the past and of the present. The striving of the artist for broad philosophical generalization, his speculations on his time and his contemporaries, on history and on the place and role of man in the world around him leads to the creation of works significant in content and form. That is why the dominant position is occupied by the thematic painting and in graphic art by the thematic series, i. e. the genres which allow the artist to show the life on a very broad scale.
The emergence of outstanding artists over the last few decades shows most convincingly what wide possibilities are inherent in the method of socialist realism, which is not bound by narrow dogmas but presupposes great variety in stylistic aspiration and creative manner. The end of the fifties and the sixties saw a renewed flourishing of the art of A.Deyneka, S. Gerasimov, A. Plastov and P. Korin. In the same period a whole galaxy of artists attained fame, whose work bore the imprint of the artist’s personal responsibility to his time, his social conscience. They turned to significant themes from the past and present, they tackled important social, moral and aesthetic problems. One of them, G.Korzhev, has created the monumental triptych Communists, and the suite Scorched by the Fire of War. Korzhev’s main aim is to show people strong in character at some tense, dramatic or tragic moments in the history. There is no idealization in his canvases, they present the stem truth, which ennobles the heart of man.
In the late 50s and early 60s the Russian school of painting was distinguished by a tendency towards austere romanticism. Many young painters, sculptors and graphic artists were drawn to the great construction projects in