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Reinterpreting Revolutionary Russia pp 184–201Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

From ‘State of the Art’ to ‘State Art’: The Rise of Socialist Realism at the Tretyakov Gallery

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Abstract

Between 1928–32, the State Tretyakov Gallery (STG) in Moscow rearranged most of its permanent display galleries to reflect a revised history of Russian art based on principles of Marxism-Leninism, transforming itself from a pre-revolutionary institution embodying the bourgeois values of the Moscow merchant class to a bastion of Marxist-Leninist ideals. Viewed in this new context, works of art were not experienced from a simple aesthetic standpoint but rather as fragments of an overall mosaic representing a history of class struggle.

‘Museums are not to be the result of simple administrative acts but rather the natural outcome of the Marxist-Leninist struggle’

Aleksei Fedorov-Davydov, curator at the State Tretyakov Gallery, 1929–32

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Notes

  • A.P. Botkina, Pavel Mikhailovich Tret’yakov v zhizni i iskusstve (Moscow, 1995), p. 247.

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  • Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Cultural Front: Power and Culture in Revolutionary Russia (Ithaca, 1992), p. 20.

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  • V.V. Gorbunov, V.I. Lenin i Proletkul’t (Moscow, 1974), pp. 109–10.

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  • A.V. Lunacharsky, Zadachi prosveshcheniya v sisteme sovetskogo stroitel’stva (Moscow, 1925), pp. 4, 5.

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  • A.V. Lunacharsky, Ocherki Marksistskoi teorii iskusstv (Moscow, 1926), p. 9.

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  • I.K. Luppol, ‘Ochet Muzeinoi Deitel’nosti’, Sovetskii Muzei 2(1), (Moscow, 1932), p. 110.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, USA

    Mary Hannah Byers PhD (Professor of History)

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  1. Mary Hannah Byers PhD
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brunel University, UK

    Ian D. Thatcher (Reader in History) (Reader in History)

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© 2006 Mary Hannah Byers

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Byers, M.H. (2006). From ‘State of the Art’ to ‘State Art’: The Rise of Socialist Realism at the Tretyakov Gallery. In: Thatcher, I.D. (eds) Reinterpreting Revolutionary Russia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230624924_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230624924_11

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-54749-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-230-62492-4

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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