The Izmailovo Estate presents the exhibition “Icons of the Soviet Period” till the end of the year (April 30 – December 22). The exposition introduces more than 100 monuments that were created in the 1920s-1980s and were part of the unofficial folk religious tradition. The exhibition is held as part of the program dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
The prototype of such objects were chromolithographic icons of the middle – second half of the 19th century. They were printed on paper or tin and were popular among a wide range of believers due to their low cost. The icons were inserted into icon cases and decorated with inexpensive materials: foil, paper, wax, dried flowers, etc. Due to the peculiarities of the decoration, such objects were called “icons” or “folezhki”.
During the Soviet era, craftsmen rethought the icon cases and began to create their own versions of such bricolage icons. Pre-revolutionary holy images, medallions of lost royal gates, cast crucifixes, Christmas angels, printed reproductions with religious images, photographs, etc. were used as prayer images. Bast, foil, paraffin, fabric from wedding dresses and even pioneer ties were used among the materials for making the frames. The variety of technologies invented for decorating icons led to the formation of local traditions that could differ greatly even in neighboring regions. Soviet icons are a reflection of the era not only in material but also in social terms. They were distributed covertly through a complex system of interactions: religious images were secretly replicated by photographers, foil was illegally taken from dairies, and the icons themselves were delivered by sellers on trains. However, after the collapse of the USSR, this living phenomenon began to disappear: craftsmen pass away, icons deteriorate. Thus, a cultural layer that has not been described and comprehensively understood disappears.
Interest in Soviet icons as a historical, cultural and artistic phenomenon that requires scientific research has arisen recently. In 2021, a large-scale project to study Soviet icons began at the Center for Visual Studies of the Middle Ages and Modern Times of the Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow). The Center’s employees Dmitry Antonov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, and Dmitry Doronin, Candidate of Historical Sciences, organized dozens of expeditions to various regions of Russia. During the work, the origins of the formation of the Soviet icon were determined, the stylistic features of monuments from different regions were identified and the existence of several artistic traditions was established, and methodological recommendations were developed for conducting independent research of such objects.
The exhibition halls of the Izmailovo estate present icons from different regions of Russia: Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Tver, Lipetsk, etc. All the monuments were collected by researchers of the RSUH Center during numerous expeditions. The exhibition tells about the birth of the Soviet icon from the 19th century kiotkas and introduces local traditions that developed in individual regions of our country.
The exhibition at the Izmailovo estate presents Soviet icons not just as objects of “naive art”, but as complexly organized objects that store information about the material, social and religious context of the time. The purpose of the exhibition is not only to popularize, but also to preserve monuments that are part of the cultural heritage of Russia, witnesses to the arrangement of personal piety of thousands of Soviet people. The project also draws attention to the phenomenon of the Soviet icon, which in the future will help identify and preserve artifacts.
Source: Press service of the Izmailovo estate, Moscow
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First published in this link of The European Times.
