Stalin as Isis and Socialist Realism and the Art of Design

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Stalin as Isis and Ra: Socialist Realism and the Art of DesignAuthor(s): John E. BowltSource: The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Vol. 24, Design, Culture, Identity:The Wolfsonian Collection (2002), pp. 34-63Published by: Florida International University Board of Trustees on behalf of The Wolfsonian-FIU

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JohnE. Bowit

Stalin as Isis and Ra:Socialist Realism and the Art of DesignJohnE.Bowlt is professor of Slavic Studies at the Universityof Southern California,LosAngeles,where he is also director of the Institute of Modern Russian Culture.He has lived for extendedperiods inthe Soviet Union/Russia and published widely on the subject of modern Russianart. Heguest-edited issues five and eleven of The ournal of Decorative and Propaganda Artsexploring Russian/Soviet themes. Bowlt conducted research for this essay as a WolfsonianFellow in 1995.

his essay focuses on the Soviet visual arts, especially the decorativeor applied arts, under Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) during the1930s and 1940s.' It is especially appropriate that the topicreceive attention now, since a substantial part of Stalin's cultural outputhas been removed from history: on the one hand, many of the artifactshave been destroyed or mutilated and, on the other, what has come downto us in the way of architecture, paintings, ceramics, textiles, and knick-knacks- from ashtraysto antimacassars is today the frequent target ofridicule or abuse. True, the last decade has witnessed a flurryof publicationsand exhibitions on the subject of Soviet Socialist Realism both in Russiaand in the West, and these have gone a long way to reestablishing he subjectas a legitimate field of academic investigation.2 By and large, however,1. The transliterationf Russiannames modifies he Library f Congresssystemso that the Cyrillicending"i + i kratkoe" f propernameshas been renderedby "y,"not "ii"(e.g., Chukovsky,Gor'ky).Whereavariant pellinghaslong been establishedn the West,e.g., JosephStalin not IosifStalin),this has been retained.2. On the Soviet visualarts of the Stalinerasee, forexample, he following monographs:VladimirPaperny,Kul'turadva(AnnArbor,Mich.:Ardis,1985);AndersAman,Architecture nd Ideologyn

EasternEuropeDuring theStalinEra(New York:The ArchitecturalHistoryFoundation,1992);MatthewCullerneBown,Art UnderStalin(NewYork:Holmes andMeier,1991);MatthewCullerneBown,SocialistRealistPainting(New Haven,Conn.:YaleUniversityPress,1998); IgorGolomstock,Totalitarian rt (London: con,1990);EvgenyGromov,Stalin. Vlast'i skusstvoMoscow:Respublika,1991); LorenR Graham,TheGhost ftheExecuted ngineer. echnologyndtheFalloftheSovietUnion(Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversityPress,1993); Hans Giinther,ed., TheCultureoftheStalinPeriod New York:St. Martin'sPress,1990); Hugh Hudson,Blueprintsnd Blood.TheStalinizationofSovietArchitecturePrinceton,N.J.:PrincetonUniversityPress,1994); Jamesvon GeldernandRichardStites,MassCulture n SovietRussia(Bloomington,Ind.:IndianaUniversityPress,1995);also the exhibitioncatalogues:TatianaNikitinaet al., TheAestheticArsenal:SocialistRealism UnderStalin,New York, nstitute orContemporary rt, 1993-1994; AlessandroDe Magistris, d., URSS.Anni 30-50, catalogueof exhibitionat the AccademiaAlbertinadelleBelleArti, Turin,April-June1997; PeterMoever, ed., TyranneidesSchinen.Architektur esStalin-Zeit, atalogueof exhibitionat the OsterreichischesMuseumfurangewandteKunst,Vienna,April-July1994; JanTabor,ed.,Kunst und Diktatur.Architektur,BildhauereiundMalerei n Osterreich, eutschland, talien undderSowjetunion 922-1956, catalogueof exhibitionat the Kunstlerhaus, ienna,March-AugustDetail of Tapestrywith 1994 (two volumes);andHubertusGassner t al., Agitatsiiaza schast'e,atalogueof exhibitionatPortraitofStalin, 1936. the MuseumFridericianum,Kassel,and the State RussianMuseumSt. Petersburg,1994.

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these endeavors have focused on literatureand the "high" arts of painting,sculpture, and architecture,whereas the "minor" arts of everydaylife havebeen neglected.3 It is often the prosaic material culture -rather than theaugust portrait or the palace of power- that expresses most vividly thesociopolitical aspirationsof a particular regime. Consequently, any attemptto forge a conceptual link between the ideological structure of the SovietUnion and its visual production should take account of all the media as asynthetic expression and, as far as possible, afford equal attention to thedecorative as well as to the fine arts, however difficult that may be.The use of decorative arts for overtly propagandistic and didactic purposesoften obscured, and still obscures, their aesthetic qualities. As with Nazirealism and, to a lesser extent, Italian Fascist realism, there still remainsa disagreeable tension between the medium (which may be "beautiful")and the message (which may be "ugly"), and it is often impossible tospeak of the former while ignoring the latter. Stalin and the applied ordecorative arts is an uneasy subject, therefore; because in seeking anaesthetic justificationfor the "Stalin style" vis-a-vis the horrors of politicaldictatorship,universalcensorship, and physicaloppression, few can suspendtheir beliefs, prejudices, and distaste.One way, however, in which this judgmental issue may be resolved anda contemporary appraisalof Socialist Realism may be undertaken in amore sympatheticmanner is to approachthe subject laterallyratherthancentrally, metaphoricallyrather than ideologically. By delineating historicalprecedents that, rightly or wrongly, are less distasteful to the researcherthan a portrait of Stalin or a photograph of the White Sea Canal, we mayestablish a more favorable milieu for an evaluation of Socialist Realism.In this way some of the negative charge that still accompanies the contem-porary reception of the Stalin style may be defused, even if its function as aprincipalvehicle of political persuasion cannot be disregarded. For thesake of simplicity, the 1930s and the 1940s are being considered here asa single time frame with an artistic and ideological constancy,cohesion,and continuity throughout, even though, of course, there weremodulationsin artistictheory and practice before, during, and afterWorld War II. Onthe other hand, this chronology of particulardates and events should notproscribe comparison with other regimes and historical moments, nearor far,that the art of the Stalin era may suggest. Comparison of "high"

3. Fora generalsurveyof the Sovietappliedanddecorativearts,see VladimirTolstoi,Monumental'noeiskusstvo SSR Moscow:Sovetskykhudozhnik,1978); forspecific ssuessee KarenKettering,"AnIntroduction o the Design of the Moscow Metroin the StalinPeriod: The Happinessof LifeUnderground,"'DecorativeArts 7 (Spring-Summer2000): 2-20; KarenKettering,"SverdlovSquareMetro Station: The Friendship f the Peoples'and the StalinConstitution,"Ibid., 21-47;JaneFriedman,"SovietMastersof the Skies at the MayakovskyMetroStation,"Ibid., 48-64;and IsabelWunsche,"Homo Sovieticus:The AthleticMotifin the Designof the DynamoMetroStation,"Ibid., 65-90.



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fig. 1VarvaraStepanova,cover of OtMoskvykupecheskoi k Moskvesotsialisticheskoi (FromMerchantMoscow toSocialist Moscow)(Moscow: Ogiz-lzogiz,1932). The MitchellWolfsonJr.Collection,The Wolfsonian- FloridaInternational University,MiamiBeach, Florida.

Stalin culture with the ostensibly remote regimes of ancient Egypt, LouisXIV, or Peter the Great is one way of providing a looser cultural contextfor discussion of the Socialist Realist style.One point of entry to this topic is the poem "MayThereAlwaysBe Sunshine,"one of the most enticing ditties of the Stalin (ruled 1924-1953),Khrushchev (ruled 1958-1964), and Brezhnev (ruled 1964-1982) eras.The piece was written in 1928 by Konstantin Barannikov,a four-year-oldboy; it then provided the lyrics for a Soviet hit song of the 1960s:

May there alwaysbe sunshine,May there alwaysbe sky,May there alwaysbe Mama,May there alwaysbe me.4

The song is about illumination, fertility, life everlasting, and the yearningfor divine or superhuman intervention -conditions that informedand defined Stalin culture in a very particularway. In Stalin's Russia, solarenergy, aviation, abundance, and eternity were concepts that becameespecially manifest in both sociopolitical aspiration and visual and materialculture. As a lyricalmicrocosm, therefore, "MayThere AlwaysBe Sunshine"can be regarded as an apotheosis of and commentary on the spirit ofStalin's Russia. As Soviet life became more brutal in the 1930s, with ruralcatastrophes, famines, and mass arrests, the fine and applied arts becamemore florid, pictorial subjects more abundant, and construction projectsmore grandiose. There seems to be a diabolical logic in these disparities,and it is tempting to read the disengagement as the direct result of anemphatic propagandathat replaced complete information with half-truths,fables, and illusions. But this is only one of many components that must be

4. For the Russian and another English translation with the first and second lines reversed, see VladimirMarkov and Merrill Sparks, Modern Russian Poetry (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1967), 824-825.


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fig. 2ViktorKlimashin, USSRAgriculturalExhibition,poster, nlo x 66 cm, 1939.The Mitchell WolfsonJr.Collection, TheWolfsonian-FloridaInternational University,MiamiBeach, Florida.Photograph byBruceWeile.

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remembered in understandingthe genesis and evolution of the Stalin style.Also critical are the imposition of ideology and the pressureof populartaste.But the survival of alternative conventions and the weight of artistic legacystill linked Socialist Realism of the late 1930s and the 1940s with the cul-tural pluralismof the preceding decade.The late 1920s and early 1930s are an extremely complex period inthe history of Soviet culture, and any scholarly assessment must considermany circumstances. Soviet art and design moved toward a more narrative,more illustrative aesthetic -and, eventually, toward Socialist Realism-because of a variety of conditions, not just because the political elite,the state bureaucracy,and the masses wanted it that way. It is importantto remember, for example, that more academic styles had continued toflourishconcurrentlywith the experimentationof the avant-garde ust beforeand after the October Revolution, reemerging by the late 1920s as aformidable force. Artists such as IsaakBrodskyand AleksandrGerasimov,court painters to Stalin during the 1930s, had received acclaim for theirproficient portraits and landscapeswell before the revolution. Theirunswerving belief in the validity of figurative art and hallowed tradition-whether that of the Italian Renaissance or of nineteenth-century Russianrealism-helped forge the principles of Socialist Realism. Conversely,petty jealousies among the avant-garde artists had long threatened theircollective power (illusory or real), and key representatives of the artisticleft, such as Marc Chagall, Naum Gabo, Natalia Goncharova, VasilyKandinsky,MikhailLarionov,PavelMansurov,and Ivan Puni (Jean Pougny),had long forsaken the new Russia to develop their ideas abroad.Still, a few artists of the avant-garde,such as El Lissitzky (1890-1941),Aleksandr Rodchenko (1891-1956), and VarvaraStepanova (1894-1958),began to create within the framework of Socialist Realism, acceptingmajor state design commissions and adjusting their style accordingly. Thepropaganda magazine USSR in Constructionrelied substantiallyoncontributions by Lissitzky,Rodchenko, Stepanova, and Solomon Telingater(1903-1969). Rodchenko and Stepanova were, likewise, responsible forthe photography and layout of severalcelebratoryvolumes of the 1930s-applying bold ideas to photomontage, collage, foldouts, and typography.5In some sense, the deluxe editions of the 1930s-promoting Soviettriumphs in aviation, exploration, agriculture, and industry at the time ofSocialist Realism- such as the portfolio Ot Moskvykupecheskoi MoskvesotsialisticheskoiFrom Merchant Moscow to Socialist Moscow) (fig. 1),were the ultimate receptacles of avant-garde experimentation. At the same

5. See Raboche-krest'ianskaiarasnaia armiia (Moscow:Izogiz, 1934) (designedby Lissitzky);Krasnaiaarmiia (Moscow:Ogiz-Izogiz, 1938) (designed by RodchenkoandStepanova);USSR.RedArmyand Navy(Moscow:State Art Publishers,1939) (designed by RodchenkoandStepanova);and SovietAviation Moscow-Leningrad: tate Art Publishers,1939)(designedby Rodchenko andStepanova).



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fig. 3El Lissitzky,cover of Industriiasotsializma (TheIndustryof Socialism)(Moscow: Stroim-lzogiz,1935). The MitchellWolfsonJr.Collection,The Wolfsonian-FloridaInternational University,MiamiBeach, Florida.

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industrializationwas erraticat the time.8Similarly,he truth of environmentaldisaster and human loss associated with Soviet industry is belied by thepastel tones and serenity of the 1931 poster Salt Mines in Central Asia(fig. 4). Soviet paintings of the 1930s alsoexpressedthis imbalance between"today"and "tomorrow"- see, for example, the technological heightsand conquest of nature implied in SerafimaRiangina's Higher,EverHigherof 1934 (fig. 5).98. El Lissitzky,designer,Industriiasotsializma Moscow:Stroim-Izogiz,1935) (sixfasciclesandtwo maps n portfolio; ncludes he journalNovoe itsoSSSR hown in figs.9 and23). The formatofthis publicationwas an apparentparaphrasef FortunatoDepero's DeperoFuturista(Milan-Paris:Dinamo-Azari,1927). Depero'salbum also was securedby metalnutsand bolts. A similargestureto the genreof the industrialbook is the account of how a group of Soviet Arcticexplorersweresaved, i.e., O. Yu.Shmidt, ed., Kak myspasalicheliuskintsevMoscow:Pravda,1934) (designedby PaulaFreiberg,FedorReshetnikov,NikolaiSedel'nikov,and Solomon Telingater).The coversandslipcaseof this two-volume book aremadeof Bakelite.9. Otherexamples nclude the sunshine and fertilityof SergeiGerasimov'sCollectiveFarmHarvestFestival 1937, State TretiakovGallery,Moscow), and the benevolent andwelcomingleader nVasilyEfanov'sA MemorableMeeting 1938, StateTretiakovGallery,Moscow).



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fig.4(opposite page)Artistunknown,Salt Mines nCentralAsia,poster, 69 x 51cm, 1931.TheMitchellWolfson r.Collection, heWolfsonian-FloridaInternational niversity,MiamiBeach,Florida.fig.5(above)SerafimaRiangina,Higher,EverHigher ,il oncanvas,152x 91 cm, 1934. StateMuseum f RussianArt,Kiev.Courtesy f GalartPublishing,Moscow.fig.6(above, arright)Maquette,Palaceof theSoviets(not built),archi-tects Boris ofan,VladimirGeil'freikh,ndAlekseiShchusev, 1934. Instituteof ModemRussianCulture,LosAngeles.

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4343he evocation and interpretation of certain themes, clearly illustrated inSoviet paintings, plates, posters, interior designs, and press photographs,contributed to the distinctiveness of Socialist Realism. One finds a concernwith process and building rather than with completion, with youth ratherthan old age, with transition and rite of passage rather than arrival ordeparture, with warmth rather than cold. On the one hand, the art andliteratureof SocialistRealismwere meant to portraythe new and spectaculartransformations of Stalin's Russia (electrification, collectivization, industri-alization), and on the other hand, they were meant to have universaland enduring appeal. That is one reason why Socialist Realism drew freelyupon established symbols of prestige and power while applying them tothe new social and political reality: simple workers could now be depictedenjoying the bourgeois pastimes of taking the waters, climbing mountains,and going to the seaside; architects included pastiches of Babylonian,Doric, and Corinthian columns in their proposals for the Palace of theSoviets (fig. 6); and a traditional Turkmenian rug maker saw fit to use theface of Stalin as the centerpiece of her handwoven, fringed woolen tapestryin 1936 (fig. 7).As the tapestryindicates, universalapplicabilitywas an especiallystrikingquality of Socialist Realism. With a predetermined syntax of images,attitudes, and captions, Socialist Realism was formulaic, "interdisciplinary,"



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fig.8(right)Platecommemoratingthe first lightof theSovietNorthLine,Dulevoporcelain actory,porcelain ndgilt,33 cmdiameter, c. 1935. .TheMitchellWolfson r.Collection, heWolfsonian-FloridaInternationalUniversity,MiamiBeach,Florida.Photograph ySilviaRos. /fig. g(below)Artistunknown,foldoutprintedphotomontagehowingSergoOrdzhonikidze,42 x 31 cm. FromNovoelitso SSSR TheNewFaceof the USSR),1935.TheMitchellWolfson r.Collection, TheWolfsonian-FloridaInternational niversity,MiamiBeach,Florida.

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fig. ioSolomonTelingater,photographllustratingStalin's tatement,"Lifehasimproved,comrades,ife hasbecomemore oyous." 'FromUSSRinConstruction,o.3,1937. Institute ofModernRussianCulture,LosAngeles. - I

One result of this contradiction between present and future -between46 socialism and Socialist Realism-was the introduction of a romanticism

or super-realismin artistic expression, replete with inconsistencies andnon-sequiturs. For example, Telingater's photographic illustration ofStalin's maxim, "Life has improved, comrades, life has become more

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joyous," in the periodical USSR in Construction (1937) (fig. 10) presentsa nude blond boy astride a dead sturgeon at the sunny seaside, aconglomeration of images that may be read didactically: the smiling childpersonifies the health of the young Soviet state-an analogue to theHitler Youth-the sturgeon suggests an abundance of food for all, notjust for survival, but for pleasure as well, and the sailboats indicate thedesirable presence of outdoor recreation. Despite its message, thisillustration is no less magical and perturbing than, say, Belgian artistRene Magritte's CollectiveInvention of 1935 (fig. 11). Similar ncongruencescan be found in AleksandrGerasimov's celebrated icon of Socialist Realism,JosephStalin and Kliment Voroshilovn the Kremlin Grounds of 1938(fig. 12), where everything seems logical and reasonable, except thatStalin- depicted as the taller man-was, in fact, shorter than Voroshilov(1881-1969), his right-hand man and head of the Red Army. At thispoint, Socialist Realism and Surrealism are almost one.



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fig. 11(right)Ren6Magritte,CollectiveInvention, il oncanvas,73 x 116cm, 1935.02002 C.Herscovici,Brussels/ArtistsRightsSociety ARS),NewYork.fig. 12(farright)AleksandrGerasimov,JosephStalinandKlimentVoroshilovnthe KremlinGrounds,oil on canvas,305 x 396 cm,1938.StateTretiakovGallery,Moscow.Courtesy fGalartPublishing,Moscow.fig. 13(below)BorisShvarts,frontispiece ndtitlepageof the bookPodstalinskoikonstitutsiei(Beneath heSunofthe StalinConstitution)(Moscow:skusstvo,1951). Institute ofModemRussianCulture, osAngeles.

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Sunshine and light are perhaps the motifs most recurrent in the represen-tation of Stalin and his achievements, and the applicationof these motifsoften expresses the disjunction between Socialist Realist representationand Soviet reality. In this respect, the previously mentioned song, "MayThere Always Be Sunshine," holds a key to understanding the culturalperspective of Stalin's time. In various aspects of cultural production oneis led to surmise that Stalin is the sun, that the Stalin Constitution isthe sun (fig. 13), and that, after Japan,the Soviet Union has emerged asanother nation of the rising sun. This Stalinist sun would rise to thebrillianceof midday after the Soviet victory in World War II, when the cultof light assumed an even more powerful meaning, real and metaphorical,with fireworksdisplaysabove the Kremlin and luminous pictures.The latterinclude Aleksandr Laktionov's Letterfrom the Front, a 1947 paintingnow housed at the State Tretiakov Gallery, Moscow, depicting a familygroup, bathed in sunlight, listening to a young boy read a letter, presumablyfrom his father on active duty.Such images evoke an immediate association with La citta del sole(City ofthe Sun), the utopian novel written by Tommaso Campanella in 1602,in which a perfect race rejoices in health and freedom in a city of lightand harmonious architecture and sculpture. Lenin, like many otherrevolutionaries of his time, treasured thisclassic parable, and Campanella's conceptof an ideal society had a formative effect

C 1-1..A1I i(CKOf on the so-called Plan of MonumentalKO(Tl liPropaganda that Lenin formulated in1918. According to this plan, statues to

J....r'..,.,.. social and political luminarieswere tobe erected in Moscow and Petrogradjust as they were in La citta del sole."Also of particularrelevance to La citta

_';:;;::'-:A- del soleand the solar aesthetic was the

11. For information on Lenin's Plan of Monumental Propaganda, see John E. Bowlt, "RussianSculpture and Lenin's Plan of Monumental Propaganda," in Art and Architecture in the Service ofPolitics, eds. Henry A. Millon and Linda Nochlin (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1978), 182-193.

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fig.14 Constructivist architect Ivan Leonidov (1902-1959), who elaborated anIvanLeonidov, ambitious project called City of the Sun into a polyphony of images withdesign forCityoftheSun,mixedmedia, radiantbuildings, temples of light, pyramidsof glass, and skyscrapers185x 229 cm, 1944. stretching toward the heavens (fig. 14).2 Although the plans are notCourtesyf Professor alwaysidentifiable with a particular city, they draw on Leonidov's recurrentMisler, taly. combinations of the pyramid and the circle, transparencyand opacity, the

organic and the inorganic.'3 Leonidov envisioned a city of aerial forms andscintillating translucencies that coincided with the solar aesthetic of Stalin'shegemony. While he remained loyal to his own architectural credo ofthe avant-garde period, Leonidov nevertheless expressed the fundamentalaspiration and symbology of Stalin's culture. Stalin then resurrectedthe sun after the avant-garde had vanquished it in their Dada opera12. Forinformationon Leonidov and his CityoftheSun,see Andrei Gozak and Andrei Leonidov,Ivan LeonidovLondon:Academy,1988); Alesssandra atourand NicolettaMisler,IvanLeonidov: TheCity of theSun,"catalogueof exhibition at the American nstituteof Architects,New York, 1988; Hans-PeterSchwarzand BernhardtSchneider,eds., Leonido,.La citta delsole,catalogueof exhibition at the Istitutoper gli StudiFilosofici,Naples, 1989.13. The result,presumablr,was to have been an ecologicallysound environmentprotestingthe

super-cityof EvgenvZamiatin'snovel Mv(We), in which the naturalworld, includingthe sun,survivedonly outside the hermeticglassdome of the socialiststate. Writtenby Zamiatin n 1920,it was not published n itsentiretyuntil 1952 (New York:ChekhovPublishingHouse).



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fig.15Artistunknown,Lenin _ .with heexhortation,"Communisms Sovietpowerpluselectrification i tof the entirecountry,"photomontage,frontispiece f rEnergeticheskoestroitel'stvo SSRof theUSSR) t(Moscow: n.p., 1958).Institute f Modern ,sRussianCulture,LosAngeles.

Victory Over the Sun of 1913, in which Kazimir Malevich and his friendshad set about to capture and humiliate the sun. Stalin rendered preeminentthe sanatorium and the sunroom and identified health, "fun," and economicpower with the sunny south (Georgia)--"Let there be light "If solar power could not be adequately harnessed, then the implementationof Lenin's call for the rapid electrification of Russia would illuminate thenew nation. One may hypothesize that Campanella also inspired Lenin'sXvisionfor a bright and iridescent Russia ablaze with electric lights. Leninis even picturedon the frontispieceof a book about this subject, presumablylit from the front and behind by a glowing lamp (fig. 15). Symptomaticof this solar obsession is the fact that the light fixture became such animportant part of Stalin interior design beginning in the 1930s. AsAbram Damsky (1906-1992), Stalin's foremost lighting designer andengineer, wrote:

The 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s were a period marked by theconstruction of major architectural projects in the Soviet Union....In theaters,railroadand metro stations andhigh-risepublic buildings,lamps and light fixturesoccupied a special place and were oftenthe most interesting featuresof the whole interior. Many of theoutstanding architectswho designed these major buildings paid closeattention to the design and construction of light fixtures.... Some,like Shchusev [architect of the Lenin mausoleum], designed thechandeliers in their buildings.'4

14. AbramDamsky,"Lampsand Architecture1930-1950," TheJournalofDecorative ndPropagandaArts 5 (1987): 91. Also see his Osvetitel'naia rmatura(Moscow:Akademiiaarkhitektury, 947); NikolaiGusev,ArkhitekturnaiavetotekhnikaMoscow-Leningrad:Gosudarst-vennoerkhitekturnoezdatel'strvo, 949); and Z. N. Bvkox,Osvetitel'naia rmatura(Moscow:Gosudarstvennoe zdatel'stroarkhitekturvgradostroitel'stva, 951).



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fig.16AbramDamsky, -: :chandeliers of the, j :.Taganskaia metrostation, ''Moscow, 1948.Courtesy f Galart 1Publishing,Moscow. n .

Damsky himself designed lamps and chandeliers for the Palace of theSoviets and was responsible for some of the most complex illuminationsin theaters, hotels, office buildings, and the Moscow metro, including theOktiabr'skaia (formerly Kaluzhskaia) and Taganskaia stations (fig. 16).1


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fig.17(above)PetrKonchalovsky,SpanishPioneersatSovietSummerCamp,oil on canvas,208 x 330 cm,1939. Moscow Sectionof the ArtFund.Courtesy fGalartPublishing,Moscow.fig.18(above,farright)EmbankmentfGor'kyPark,photograph 1940.Collection fSoniaBrodsky,Moscow.Institute f ModernRussianCulture,LosAngeles.

focused on capturingthe optimistic side of Soviet culture, recurrentlyrepresented outdoor processions, amusement parks, gymnastic displays,and other forms of recreation-whenever possible bathing their subjectsin sunlight (fig. 17). Not accidentally, the first line of the Moscow metro(1935) linked the two major parksof culture and rest-Sokol'niki andGor'ky Park(fig. 18), and tourist information about Moscow tended todescribe sunshine rather than snow as the city's dominant weather pattern.For example, the 1939 propaganda album Moscowcontains approximately180 photographs of Moscow outdoors, only four of which show snow,and the photographs of gymnastic displays by AleksandrRodchenko andothers for the collection entitled Pageant of Youthalso create the impressionof perpetual sunlight.9 As government control of personal destiny becameever sternerand the specter of Siberiaever more insistent, so Soviet art andphotography grew ever more exuberant, focusing more and more on sun-light and creating a magic kingdom that had little to do with everyday life.It is wrong to assume that Stalin was especially interested in the visual arts.His collected writings make no reference to painting, and it is rumored thathe never set foot inside the Tretiakov Gallery, Moscow's principalmuseumof Russian art. But to understand the broader implications of the projectsdescribed above and why they appealedto the Soviet government, one mustalso consider Stalin'smonumental architectureand urban planning projects.After all, Stalin was extremely interested in the physical and visual transfor-mation of the Soviet Union and was instrumental in accepting or rejectingprojects for the replanning of Moscow-like Hitler in Munich andBerlin and Mussolini in Rome. The sharp contrast between real andunreal, described above, extended to Stalin-era architecture, particularlythe "wedding-cakes," in which the difference between outside (sunshine)and inside (darkness), between sacred and profane, was emphasized.2"19. Moscow,Moscow-Leningrad: tate Art Publishers,1939) (photographernot indicated);ameteorologicalsequelto this is the English-language ollection calledPageantof Youth(Moscow-Leningrad: tate Art Publishers,1939) (photographernot indicated,but presumably

was Rodchenko).20. VladimirPapernyhasdiscussed his issue in his examinationof Stalinarchitecture nddesign,i.e., Kul'tura dva, chap. 1.

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fig. 19Cathedral of the Savior,designed by KonstantinTon(destroyed 1929),chromolithograph,c. 1890. Institute ofModern Russian Culture,LosAngeles.

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This is epitomized by Borislofan's fantastic winning entryfor the Palace of the Sovietsin 1933, a gigantic piledesigned for the banks of theRiver Moscow, opposite theKremlin, on the site of thedynamited Cathedral of theSavior (figs. 6 and 19).21But the Palace of the Sovietsproject suggests links thatextend far beyond NaziGermany and Fascist Italy-historic links that provide asymbolic framework forinterpreting Stalin culture.The Palace of the Soviets,never completed, represented arigid demarcation between

palatialand public spaces, a tension between indoors and outdoors, andthe centralization of imperial power, all on a superhuman scale with awaterfront orientation. As encapsulated by this building, Stalin's newRussia of the twentieth century had much in common with Peter theGreat's new Russia of the early eighteenth century. Peter, like Stalin, usedcanals as a major transportation system, and tried to turn Russia into amaritime power. Given the Soviet emphasis on solar symbolism discussedabove, the Stalin-Peter analogy reaches a more graphic level when werecall that Peterhof, Peter's summer residence outside St. Petersburg,was modeled on Versailles,residence of Louis XIV, the Sun King-bothfeaturing wondrous water artistries (figs. 20 and 21). Moreover, theprojected Palace of the Soviets (intended to occupy an area of almostfour million square feet and rise to 1,361 feet)22and Gor'ky Parkelicitedcomparisons with Peterhof and Versailles.That Stalin countenancedsuch an association seems clear from the fact that the 1941 Stalin Prizewas awarded to Aleksei Tolstoi for his novel Peter the Great.

21. On the Palaceof the Soviets,see the bulletins ssuedby the Administration or the Constructionof the Palaceof the Soviets,Moscow, 1931 (edited by M. V. Kriukov);P. I. Antipov,ed., Dvoretssovetov SSR Moscow:Vsekokhudozhnik,1933); and IsaakEigel', Boris ofan (Moscow:Stroiizdat,1978), 80-125.22. The projectfor the Palaceof the Soviets was acomponent partof the generalplanto reconstructMoscow n the 1930s-1950s and vastresources-ideological,administrative,inancial,echnological,

artistic went into its elaboration.Although he foundationswere aid,constructionwas nterruptedbyWorldWarII and finally erminated.Under Khrushchev he site became a swimmingpool,which,underYeltsin,was then replacedby a repriseof the Cathedral f the Savior.

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fig. 20(above)Peterhof, riginallydesignedbyPeter heGreatntheearlyeighteenthcentury,photograph c. 1980.Institute f ModernRussianCulture,LosAngeles.fig. 21(above, arright)Versailles, riginallydesignedbyJ.Hardouin-Mansartinthe late seventeenthcentury, hotographc. 1980. InstituteofModernRussianCulture, osAngeles.fig. 22(right)FriendshipfthePeoplesFountaintthe Exhibition fEconomic chievements,1954. Institute ofModernRussianCulture,LosAngeles.

The Exhibition of Economic Achievements in Moscow, planned in the late1930s but completed only after World War II, with its gilt decorations,fountains, and promenades is a further extension of the analogy withPeter the Great and Louis XIV, and the eerie Rococo of its pavilions(now, unfortunately, in disrepair) echoes the gentler Rococo of the fur-nishings and plasterwork of Peterhof and Versailles(figs. 20, 21, and 22).23For Stalin, the Exhibition, first referred to as the Palace of EconomicAchievements, propagandistically boasted of the new empire's wealth,fulfilling a function comparable to that of Versailles and Peterhof for theirrespective patrons. Via the palatial symbolism of gala celebrations, spec-tacular firework displays, and nocturnal illumination, the Exhibition ofEconomic Achievements invoked in the spectator the sense of historicallegitimacy. The identification of Stalin with the Sun King via Peter theGreat helps to explain the ostensible resplendence and iridescence of

... .23. For information on and photographs of the Exhibition (VDNKh-Vystavka dostizhenii narodnogo

khoziastva), see I. A. Benediktov et al., RSFSR na Vsesoiuznoisel'skoivystavke,1939 goda (Moscow:Goskinoizdat, 1940); P. Pospclov et al., eds., Vsesoiuznaiasel'skaiavvstavka Moscow: OGIZ, 1939);and Vsesoiuznaia vystavka. Pavil'ony i sooruzheniia (Moscow: Izobrazitel'noe iskusstvo, 1954).

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his reign -the intricate fagadismof his world of make-believe and thereflectivesurfaces n his publicbuildings(mirrors,crystal,marble,chandeliers).Such a direct appeal to aristocratic convention was of major importance tothe welfareof both Peter the Great and Stalin. Given the scarcityof snowin depictions of the Soviet Union in the 1930s and Stalin's self-identificationwith Peter the Great, and by analogy with the Sun King, one may considerMoscow a veritable "City of the Sun."In addition to the Soviet fixation with light, whether solar or artificial,there was a fixation with hydraulic culture, symbolized by the proposedplacement of the Palace of the Soviets on the RiverMoscow, the inordinateattention given to the esplanades, embankments, and parapetsof Gor'kyPark,24 nd, of course, to the canals and the hydroelectric dams.25Thisbrings to mind the cities of the Nile and the pharaonic cult of Ra (thegod of the sun) and Isis (the goddess of motherhood and fertility). In the1930s and 1940s, Stalin was viewed as the life-giving sun, and the hymnsand songs dedicated to him reiteratethat "Like the sun, you have illuminedthe expanse,26 or "Glory to the golden sun, glory to the stars on theKremlin, Glory to our native Stalin,"27or "Glory to our mother earthGlory to the red sun in the Kremlin "28The parallelsare intriguing, butperhaps there is a more ominous historical precedent that can be invoked,one that brings a stronger logic to this interpretation of Stalin cultureand to the song "May there alwaysbe sunshine," namely, the Egyptian

54 divination of motherhood and fertility in the form of Isis and of the sunin the form of Ra. In other words, the Stalin culture of the 1930s and1940s can be regarded as a pharaonic one, and the model upon whichStalin wished to construct his new state may well have been the dynasticterritory of the Nile and its delta. But in order to reinforce the hypothesis,we should move back to the year 1933, just as the perimeters of Stalinculture were beginning to assume definition and focus. It is the year afterthe liquidation of artistic and literaryorganizations-whereby professionalwriters, artists, and musicians were to relinquish their memberships inlocal societies to join state-controlled trade unions29 and the year before

24. For a discussionof theseand other embankments long Moscow'srivers, ee P. I. Gol'denbergand L. S. Aksel'rod,NaberehnyeMoskvy. rkhitektura konstruktsiiaMoscow:Gosudarstvennoearkhitekturnoezdatel'stvoAkademiiarkhitekturySSR,1940).25. On the hydroelectric ams,see M. A. Zakhar'evskaia,rkhitekturagorodotekhnicheskikhsooruzhenii. lotiny Leningrad-Moscow:Gosudarstvennoezdatel'stvostroitel'noi iteratury,1939), especially hap.5.26. AramKhachaturian,Pesniao Staline" A Song About Stalin)(Moscow: Muzgiz, 1945), 2.27. AleksandrProkof'ev,"SlavaStalinu" Gloryto Stalin), n PesnioStaline(SongsAbout Stalin),eds. L. 0. Belov et al. (Moscow:Gosudarstvennoezdatel'stvokhudozhestvennoiiteratury,1950), 197.28. AnatolySofronov,"Pesnia lavy" A Song of Glory),Ibid., 196.29. With the "Decree on the Reconstructionof Literary nd ArtisticOrganizations"1932),all official iterature nd artgroupsweredissolvedandreplacedby appropriate rofessionalunions,e.g., the Union of Writers f the USSR.



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the formulation and universal superimpositionof the doctrine of Socialist Realism.30It isthe conclusive moment of the first Five YearPlan and the beginning of the second, andthe year of the devastating results -or giddysuccesses -of enforced collectivization.

fig. 23Coverof the journalNovoe litso SSSR(The New Face of theUSSR),1935, showingthe newly opened Dneprhydroelectricdam.The Mitchell Wolfson Jr.Collection,TheWolfsonian-FloridaInternationalUniversity,MiamiBeach, Florida.Photograph by Silvia Ros.

There were many urgent issues on the agendain 1933, but a leitmotif that surfaced constantly-* -= in the press and public statements was water.

E |i ^^^^|_^^B On one hand, praise was showered upon theplanners and engineers who were heeding_'"'H'^-- f ~Lenin's call for electrificationand were harnessingthe flow of Russia's rivers to create some of theworld's most ambitious hydroelectricschemes.

-^^^__,,^^^^ Perhaps the most famous of these projects wasthe dam on the River Dnepr (Dneproges),which, upon its completion in 1932, becamethe most powerful electrical generator in theSoviet Union (fig. 23). However, if water wasplentiful in the lowlands and open spaces ofMother Russia, the situation was very different in Moscow and the Volga

region. In 1933 Moscow faced a serious water shortage, for as the cityincreased its rapid growth and as the network of running water andhydraulic distribution continued to develop, so Moscow's water reservoirsproved to be grossly inadequate. It was calculated that, if urban expansionwere to continue at the same rate, by 1935 the River Moscow, the mainsource of drinking and industrial water, would run dry. Therefore in 1933Stalin entertained the extraordinaryidea of exploiting the water of theRiver Volga, some ninety miles to the north of Moscow, by deviatingpart of that body of water south to Moscow via a canal. The resultingMoscow-Volga Canal represented Stalin's greatest act of geographicaland topographical metamorphosis and victory over nature.3'Stalin and the engineers who undertook the planning and construction ofthe Mosow-Volga Canal argued that the system (opened in 1937) wouldprovide an endless source of drinking water as well as a reliable industrialcoolant. They also affirmed that it would raise the level of the RiverMoscowin central Moscow by six feet, turning local streets into canals and the cityinto a great internationalport, on the axis of a waterwayjoining Leningradwith the Black Sea and the Seven Seas (fig. 24). "Large ships alongsidethe Kremlin wall - does this sound too improbable?"- asked an

30. Zhdanovspeech,in RussianArt oftheAvant-Garde, d. Bowlt,293-294.31. On the Moscow-VolgaCanal,see V. F. Perlinet al., Arkhitektura analaMoskva-Volga(Moscow:VsesoiuznaiaAkademiia rkhitektury, 939).

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fig. 24(right)Mapindicating howMoscow would be turnedinto an international port.FromVelikie sooruzheniiastalinskoi epokhi(GreatConstructionsof the Stalin Epoch)(Moscow: Molodaiagvardiia, 1951). Instituteof Modern RussianCulture,LosAngeles.fig. 25(below)KhimkiRiverStation,designed byAlekseiRukhliadev,now themain station for touristtrips on the RiverMoscow, photographc. 1950. Institute ofModern RussianCulture,LosAngeles.fig. 26(opposite page)IraklyToidze,Stalin atthe Ryon Hydro-ElectricPowerStation, oil oncanvas, 239 x 295 cm,1935. Marx-Engels-LeninInstitute, Tbilisi.Courtesyof GalartPublishing, Moscow.

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English-language guidebook to Moscow in 1934.32 The new accessibilityof water also would supply a constant source for irrigation projects to thenorth of Moscow, creating temporary and permanent lagoons, beneficialto agriculture and recreation alike.The Moscow-Volga Canal was one link in a chain of canals that Stalindeveloped in the 1930s, the most notorious being the White Sea Canal,

opened in 1934.33Neither the Moscow-^irc ~ Volga Canal nor the White Sea Canal

was commercially viable inasmuch as thelocks did not function well, the waterlevel proved too shallow, the walls toofragile, and the viaducts too narrow to

I^'-~r, accommodate many barges and freightships. Moscow did not turn into the.-t great inlandport that Stalinhad imagined,- 'r . and although the Moscow-Volga Canal

:~{l .-. ....ow has some commercial value, its3^tL;l '.T' real use has become the pleasurable- .^l 1 i Bi U1E US. I transportation of people from KhimkiS.. S E_91*ss. .-

.A.;.;.-_ - .~ ...'~ I River Station to points upstream-Y 1 Di (fig. 25).3 But practicalsuccess orS%/" 1 ^ ANl Ui_ E failure aside, the canalsalso carrya deep

32. M. I. Levidov,Moscow. ast, Present,Future Moscow:Vneshtorgizdat,1934), 140.33. On the White SeaCanal,see the special ssueof USSR n Construction 2 (1933). This carriedphotographs hat Rodchenkotook of the canal as it wasbeing constructed.Also see MaksimGor'ky,Leopol'dAverbakh, nd S. Firin,eds., Belomorsko-Baltiiskiianal imeni Stalina. Istoriiastroitel'stvaMoscow:Istoriia abrik zavodov,1934); and the Englishversion,LeopoldAuerbachet al., eds., BelomorNew York:Smith andHaas, 1935).34. See RomanKhiger,Arkhitektura echnykhokzalovMoscow:Gosudarstvennoe rkhitekturnoeizdatel'stvoAkademiiarkhitektury SSR, 1940).



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fig. 27 symbolic value that, like the designation of Moscow as "City of the Sun,"ViktorGovorkov,iktorpGovorkov, suggests an organic connection with Egypt. The Egyptians, like StalinIzasukulpobedim with his River Moscow, harnessed the power of the Nile for commercial(WeWill Overcome theDrought,Too ),poster, and military purposes; the Nile quenched their thirst and irrigated their1949.Instituteof crops; and Isis and Ra, their gods of fertility and the sun, were associatedModernRussianCulture,Modernussian ulture, directly with the life-giving force of the Nile, just as Stalin became the

living symbol of Russia's hydraulic renaissance.In addition, both pharaonic Egypt-with Memphis on the Nile Delta-and Soviet Russia -with Moscow on the Moscow-Volga Canal- werecentralized, autocratic, pyramidalsocieties that depended on massive slavelabor for their construction projects (slaves built the pyramids just asprisoners built the canals). Furthermore, as the pharaoh was perceived asa deity and credited with good harvests, Stalin was perceived as the sunand credited with the progress of Soviet agricultureand industry.Stalinculture also borrowed Egypt's dichotomous symbols of water and thedesert so that paintings such as IraklyToidze's Stalin at the Ryon Hydro-Electric PowerStation of 1935 (fig. 26) assume a metaphorical significance,with Stalin clothed in white and bathed in sunlight as he pontificatesto a group of heedful workmen in front of a new dam in a barrenlandscape.

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A collection of essays on Stalin's transformations of nature, Velikiesooruzheniiastalinskoi epokhi Great Constructions of the Stalin Epoch),published in Moscow in 1951, contains sections that could just as wellhave been written about Egypt: "Nastuplenie na peski" (Attacking theSands), "Pokorenie pustyni" (Vanquishing the Desert), and "Bogatyeurozhaia oroshaemykh polei" (The Rich Harvests of the Irrigated Fields).35Posters of the 1930s and 1940s also urged the viewer to "Overcome theDrought " (fig. 27). Appropriatelyenough, camels are the beasts of burdenin the Salt Mines in Central Asia poster referencedearlier(fig. 4).The pharaonicmetaphor is enticing, but in order to render it more crediblethe question as to why Stalin might have chosen to identify himself withthe dynasties of Cheops, Ramses, or Tutankhamen must be answered.First, many regarded- and still regard- pharaonic Egypt as a highlysuccessful society with advancedtechnology, effective law and order, andvery efficient means of communication and transportation- a society thatStalin would have wished to emulate. Second, there was the precedentofEgyptianculturein Russianculture:from the authentically ancient sphinxesat the Academy of Arts Embankment on the River Neva in St. Petersburgin the late eighteenth century to Aleksandr Pushkin's fictional EgyptianNights of the 1830s; from the importation of Napoleon's Egyptian tasteinto early nineteenth-century Russian architecture and furnishings to thecult of Cleopatra in Russia'sfin-de-sieclepoetry and dance; from theEgyptian motif on a pre-revolutionary elevator to the mummies displayed 59prominently in the main exhibition areaof the AlexanderIII Museum inMoscow (now the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts). This is not to say thatStalin was especiallyawareof Russia'sEgyptomania, but the artistic,literary,and decorative sources were there, and their forceful presence helps toexplain the continued fascination with Egypt during the Soviet period.This is reflected in the publication of severalimportant art historicalsurveys,including Vladimir Pavlov's TheSculptural Portrait in Ancient Egyptand Moisei Ginzburg's Egypt36-although the passion for things Egyptianalso ran high in other countries, such as Great Britain, France, andGermany, particularlywhen archaeological discoveries were made in the1920s and 1930s.The last line of "May There Always Be Sunshine," the song that unifiesthis essay, "May there alwaysbe me," expressesa simple desire that suggeststhe most solid bridge between Soviet and ancient Egyptian culture: thelife everlasting, the immortality and superhumanity to which the healthySoviet workers, ample peasants, and smiling children beartestimony in thesunlit photographs and paintings of the 1930s and 1940s. Surely the mostobvious symbol of this aspiration is the Lenin mausoleum on Red Square35. A. V. Topchievet al., Velikieooruzheniia talinskoi pokhiMoscow:Molodaiagvardiia,1951).36. VladimirPavlov,Skul'pturnyiortretv DrevnemEgipete Moscow-Leningrad:skusstvo,1937);MoiseiGinzburg,Egipet Moscow:Akademiia rkhitektury,944).



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fig. 28Lenin ying in state. From tArkhitekturaavzoleia ' '1Lenina(TheArchitecture iof the LeninMausoleum) a1(Moscow: osudarstvennoe toizdatel'stvo rkhitektury _ad .igradostroitel'stva,1950). Institute ofModernRussian Culture, :Los Angeles.

at the foot of the Kremlin wall, a stone's throw from the River Moscow,and inspired directly by the experience of ancient Egypt (fig. 28). There isevidence to suggest that Stalin, who supervised the plans for the granitemausoleum and followed the mummification of Lenin at all phases, wasguided by the same arguments and rituals that inspired the Egyptians tocreate their pyramids, their sarcophagi, and their statuary.The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death, and tried to preservethe human body as its container and vehicle for the journey of the spirit.Before they perfected the technique of mummification, the early Egyptiansplaced a sculptural likeness of the deceased within the tomb, so the effigycould assimilate the soul (a practice reminiscent of the multiplicity ofstatues to Lenin after his death). Since the pharaoh was God and hissepulcher the first abode of his soul, the structure of the sepulcher had tobe durable and well appointed -which is why the pyramids were con-structed to withstand time and were equipped with the appurtenances ofthe deceased for the voyage beyond. The alabastersarcophagi, the textsand images (during the later dynasties), and, of course, the actual processof embalming were applied or interpreted in the entombment of Lenin.7Completed in October 1930 (corresponding with the thirteenth anniver-sary of the October Revolution), the permanent mausoleum betrayed aclear debt to pharaonic architecture (both Aleksei Shchusev, its architect,and Ignaty Nivinsky, its interior designer, were well versed in Egyptianantiquities). The polished surfaces of marble, granite, and porphyry, themummy of Lenin under the plate-glass pyramidinstalled on the oxidized37. For informationon the embalmingof Lcnin,see Ilya Zbarsky ndSamuelHutchinson,Lcnin'sEnbalmers London:Harvill, 1998).



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fig. 29AnastasMikoian,ViacheslavMolotov,Stalin,andMikhailKalinin topthe LeninMausoleum,RedSquare,watching gymnasticsdisplay on 6 July1935.From ovetskaiadetvora(SovietKids) Moscow:Ogiz-lzogiz, 1936).Institute f ModernRussianCulture,LosAngeles.

bronze base, the staircase leading to the room of mourning, the interiordecorated in black and red, the diffused lighting, the proximity to the riverof the capital-all remind us of the great pyramids of Saqqaraand Giza.Why was Stalin so enthusiastic about embalming Lenin, in spite of theadamant protests of Nadezhda Krupskaia, Lenin's widow?38 Why didhe undertake the extraordinarymeasure of placing the body on a catafalquein a mausoleum in order to observe an eternal lying-in-state, just ashe was condoning the widespread destruction of saints' relics in themonasteries and churches? First, because a primary avenue of scientificinquiry in the earlyyears of the Soviet state revolved around the questfor overcoming death; centers such as the Institute for Rejuvenation inMoscow conducted extensive medical researchin this field.39The embalmingof Lenin, therefore (and of Stalin later), held deep symbolic value andwas a clear, though illusory, reference to the triumph over death. TheCommittee for the Embalming of Lenin, directed by V. N. Vorob'evand Boris Zbarsky throughout the late 1920s, concluded:

[The embalming] rests on solid scientific principles,which allow us tocount on a state of preservationof Vladimir Il'ich's body for a longtime-several decades;and can be viewed like this in a closed glass casketas long as the necessaryhumidityandtemperatureconditionsare observed.4

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38. See Ibid., especially haps.2 and 3.39. The architectKonstantinMel'nikovwasespeciallynterested n rejuvenation ndimmortality.See S. FrederickStarr,Melnikov. oloArchitectn a MassSocietyPrinceton,N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress,1978), especially hap. 10.40. BorisZbarsky,MavzoleiLenina(Moscow:OGIZ, 1946), 37.



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For Stalin, there was also the appeal of the ancient ritual of the earlydynasties,whereby the aged leaderwas killed in order to make room forhis younger successor. The "ritualsacrifice"of Lenin countenanced theascension of Stalin, so that Stalin, standing atop the mausoleum, nowcontrolled the dynasty bequeathed to him (fig. 29). Nikolai Stoiarov's1950 history of the mausoleum reinforces the message:

The name of Lenin, written on the mausoleum, sounds as a call to battle,an appeal orvictory.Lenin lives with us, he leads us. Stalin s Lenintoday.41This, of course, echoes the maxim that for decades graced the streets andsquares of the Soviet Union: "Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live."Once again, Stalin's pharaonic connections -the solar power, the water-works, and the bid for eternity-bring us back to the images of aridityand fluidity.It is tempting to forge a relationship between the impendingdrought of 1933 and the imposition of Socialist Realism the followingyear-in broader terms, between the human desert of the "Great Terror"and the false waters of propaganda, bringing a plenitude of ideologicalirrigation. In the shifting sands of Stalin's Russia, people vanished, thegulags crisscrossed the Siberian tundra, and the regime of secrecy andreticence vied with the uniformity and silence of a natural desert. True,there were oases, real and metaphorical, restorative and invigorating, suchas Gor'ky Park, genuine achievements in mass literacy and heavy industry,

62 and enduring works of literature and art,which attractedunfailingoptimismwith their technical virtuosity. But as the Stalin era recedes ever furtherinto the myth of history, the abiding danger becomes the temptation to seeonly the oases, not the desert, and to delight in the mirage of SocialistRealism while forgetting the cruelty of the unrelenting sun.Stalin's dream of immortality did not come to pass, and the great visionsand projects of his culture proved to be fragile illusions. The canals didnot function, and the damming of the rivers and the irrigation of thedeserts brought ecological disaster.The Palace of the Soviets was neverbuilt, the Exhibition of Economic Achievements continues to crumble,and the question still lingers whether Lenin's body will be buried andthe mausoleum demolished. The brilliant sun high in the sky has beeneclipsed, the gods cast down, nothing seems to remain from that grandioselegacy, and the little song "May There Always Be Sunshine" transposesinto a lamentation. But perhaps not all is lost, for there is still the thirdand most uplifting line of the refrain, "May there alwaysbe Mama."Just one year before Stalin's death, the Socialist Realist Fedor Reshetnikov

41. NikolaiStoiarov,ArkhitekturamavzoleiaLenina(Moscow:Gosudarstvennoezdatel'stvoarkhitektury gradostroitel'stva, 950), 86.



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fig. 30FedorReshetnikov,Bad Grades,Again ,oil on canvas, 102 x 94 cm,1952. State TretiakovGallery,Moscow.Courtesyof GalartPublishing, Moscow.

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painted his sentimental Bad Grades,Again 42 (fig. 30), which now mightread as a metaphor for Mother Russia chiding little Joseph: the school oflife has treated him harshly and his dreams are in smithereens. So thehappy note on which to finish this melancholy essay about a regime thatproved to be so mortal is that there's always mother: Ra may fade, butIsis lives on. o

42. Reshetnikov also helped with the design of Kak my spasali cheliuskintsev.See note 8's reference tothe industrial book El Industriia sotsializma.

Stalin as Isis and Socialist Realism and the Art of Design

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