I was going through some archive material about the war on Judaism waged by communist Jews in the early Soviet Union — posters, magazine covers, various agitprop, that kind of thing — for this latest chapter, when I came across an old Bezbozhnik magazine
Those magazine or periodical covers are amazing.. The second one reminds me of the better silk screen band posters ive seen, except the iconography or message of the thing couldnt be more different.. Starting with the fact that there is a strong didactic component in the soviet images in the first place whereas modern western graphic art mostly refuses to have a message unless its to directly sell a product
right? they look very contemporary. i guess we still live in the designs and aesthetics pioneered in those days. and yeah, the soviet covers always have a clear simple message. they were very openly propagandistic, when propaganda didn’t have the negative connotation that it does now. that was their point: to reach and teach the people. advertising is basically propaganda, so it makes sense that ads have a clear simple message.
Clement greenberg and peggy guggenheim fought to put america on the cultural map and succeeded, eventually moving the capitol of the art world from paris to new york. With it came a change in the direction high art was to take: the predominant stylebecame,for a little while, abstract expressionism. But the invention of the idea of "art for art's sake" has hung around much longer and i think has had a huge impact on the way people relate to art today- although others will argue the proliferation of cheap reproduction technology and oversaturation of images has done more to makepeople indifferent to "high" art.. Itsweird to think that "art for art's sake" came out of the same cold war battles as so many other destructive technologies. In all art curriculae it is presented as the almost inevitable result of development and progress in the arts, although the question "progress towards what?" Isnever answered, much less posed.
"most still believe that the Great Industrial God . . . will remake the world into heaven, even as it turns it into hell."
Don't know about this: seems more like most people just want a decent income first and foremost, and couldn't really give a shit about the bigger picture (something the bourgeois elites and their political reps have zero problem with).
I'm reading Babel's Red Cavalry and Platonov's Foundation Pit. You might enjoy those. The second one is a dystopian, the first one has some great brutal scenes from the civil war.
Hi Yasha, I came across a 1944-45 report on the work of a then recently founded section of the OSS which struck me as very relevant to your work. It is on the CIA foia archive on line, and is called ‘the study of foreign political developments in the United States A New Field of Political Intelligence’. It talks about how and why ...
‘contact has been organised with those important groups in the American citizenry which are of recent foreign extraction...’ The report argues that this line of work has proved so valuable that it should be continued indefinitely. Chief editor is named at the end Selden Rodman’, who is also named in various other documents in the collection but of whose subsequent roles I am unclear. It seems likely that the recommendation to continue the work would have been accepted but I haven’t seen any information about that. I thought it would relate to your lines of enquiry.
Those magazine or periodical covers are amazing.. The second one reminds me of the better silk screen band posters ive seen, except the iconography or message of the thing couldnt be more different.. Starting with the fact that there is a strong didactic component in the soviet images in the first place whereas modern western graphic art mostly refuses to have a message unless its to directly sell a product
right? they look very contemporary. i guess we still live in the designs and aesthetics pioneered in those days. and yeah, the soviet covers always have a clear simple message. they were very openly propagandistic, when propaganda didn’t have the negative connotation that it does now. that was their point: to reach and teach the people. advertising is basically propaganda, so it makes sense that ads have a clear simple message.
Clement greenberg and peggy guggenheim fought to put america on the cultural map and succeeded, eventually moving the capitol of the art world from paris to new york. With it came a change in the direction high art was to take: the predominant stylebecame,for a little while, abstract expressionism. But the invention of the idea of "art for art's sake" has hung around much longer and i think has had a huge impact on the way people relate to art today- although others will argue the proliferation of cheap reproduction technology and oversaturation of images has done more to makepeople indifferent to "high" art.. Itsweird to think that "art for art's sake" came out of the same cold war battles as so many other destructive technologies. In all art curriculae it is presented as the almost inevitable result of development and progress in the arts, although the question "progress towards what?" Isnever answered, much less posed.
interesting
How much of this was under Stalin's imprimatur?
"most still believe that the Great Industrial God . . . will remake the world into heaven, even as it turns it into hell."
Don't know about this: seems more like most people just want a decent income first and foremost, and couldn't really give a shit about the bigger picture (something the bourgeois elites and their political reps have zero problem with).
Yeah I hear you. But if you don’t give a shit about the bigger picture, you cede the world to the Great Industrial God who is still all powerful.
Yup. Bourgeois individuality does that.
Hello Yasha
Hope you’re doing well and all healthy
I was wondering if you could recommend books about the Soviet Union. Like about life and everything about it.
I'm reading Babel's Red Cavalry and Platonov's Foundation Pit. You might enjoy those. The second one is a dystopian, the first one has some great brutal scenes from the civil war.
Thanks Yasha !
Will look into those and order copies !
Hi Yasha, I came across a 1944-45 report on the work of a then recently founded section of the OSS which struck me as very relevant to your work. It is on the CIA foia archive on line, and is called ‘the study of foreign political developments in the United States A New Field of Political Intelligence’. It talks about how and why ...
‘contact has been organised with those important groups in the American citizenry which are of recent foreign extraction...’ The report argues that this line of work has proved so valuable that it should be continued indefinitely. Chief editor is named at the end Selden Rodman’, who is also named in various other documents in the collection but of whose subsequent roles I am unclear. It seems likely that the recommendation to continue the work would have been accepted but I haven’t seen any information about that. I thought it would relate to your lines of enquiry.