This event delves into the phenomenon of Western leftist artists’ participation in cultural exchange with the USSR during the 1920s and ‘30s, examining their interactions, expectations and lived experiences within the Soviet sphere of influence. A focus is the construction of the USSR’s image within the Western collective imagination, shaped by exoticising narratives that stemmed from the religious-philosophical quests of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These narratives portrayed the Russian people as profoundly spiritual, standing in stark opposition to the perceived maladies of Western civilisation.
Daniel and Sarah will also explore the pragmatic allure of the Soviet project during the global economic downturn of the late 1920s, examining how material considerations intersected with ideological commitments, posing questions such as: Who were the artists supporting the USSR? How did they navigate travel to the Soviet Union and which institutions facilitated relationships with foreign ‘fellow-travellers’? What aspects of Soviet life could these visitors witness, and how were they perceived within the Soviet art scene?
The speakers will provide a comprehensive historical context, unravel political mythologies, and map the extensive leftist artistic networks that spanned Europe and the United States. The discussion will illuminate the complex interplay between ideological projections, cultural diplomacy and artistic production during the USSR’s emergence as a culturally expansionist state with global ambitions.
Sarah Wilson is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Courtauld Institute of Art, and Honorary Professor at University College London. An art historian and curator, her work spans international avant-gardes, transnational histories of leftist art and Cold War Europe (including the USSR and later Russia), through to contemporary global art. She curated the landmark exhibition Paris: Capital of the Arts, 1900–1968 (Royal Academy of Arts, London; Guggenheim Bilbao, 2002) and the Pierre Klossowski retrospective at Whitechapel (2006), among numerous other exhibition projects. Her books include The Visual World of French Theory: Figurations (2010), and Picasso/Marx and socialist realism in France (2013). In 1997 she was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.
5a Bloomsbury Square London WC1A 2TA