Monumental Soviet Paintings

This exhibition presents some of the largest paintings from the Soviet era that TMORA could unearth in private American collections. These rare canvases are inhabited by collective farmers, loggers, construction workers, and an occasional waitress or an artist’s wife, some of them tough and mighty proletarian superheroes, while others pensive and demure. The theme of the working class was raised high in the hierarchy of official Soviet art, presenting the Soviet worker as the country’s ruling class. Inspirational and finely executed, these enormous canvases decorated public spaces in Soviet factories, administrative buildings, and other institutions. The Soviet art market knew only one customer, the state itself, and this unique condition of the production of art continues to inspire curiosity and a desire to explore.

The exhibition includes fifteen monumental paintings from the 1950s-1980s. Several important works come from the collection of TMORA founders, Raymond and Susan Johnson. A few smaller canvases are also on view.