✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Kids
  • Benefits
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Benefits
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Visual Arts

Revolution: Russian Art, Royal Academy

11 Feb 17 – 17 Apr 17, 11 February – 17 April 2017 10am – 6pm, Fridays until 10pm

The birth and death of avant-garde. Russian Royal Academy exhibition charts art born of revolution - and its downfall

By CW Contributor on 15/7/2016

5 CW readers are interested
Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev, Bolshevik (detail), 1920. Oil on canvas. 101 x 140.5 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery Photo © State Tretyakov Gallery London Russian Revolution Royal Academy
Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev, Bolshevik (detail), 1920. Oil on canvas. 101 x 140.5 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery Photo © State Tretyakov Gallery London Russian Revolution Royal Academy
Revolution: Russian Art, Royal Academy Revolution: Russian Art, Royal Academy Ella Cory-Wright
It may sound academic, but this Royal Academy exhibition offers an insight into art in times of crisis - and the perils of idealism.


In 1917, one of the largest empires in crumbled to dust. Centuries of Tsarist rule were overthrown, and a brand new Communist Russia was born. Art loves upheaval, as much as misery loves company. A collective of avant-garde artists, including Malevich, Kandinsky, Tatlin and Chagall, relished the free space within which they could work. No longer would they be bound to the wealthy elite and their commissions. They could speak in a new artistic language, making authentic, Modern art, 'for the people'.


Malevich dove into geometric abstraction: "trying desperately to free art from the dead weight of the real world, I took refuge in the form of the square." Chagall developed his own fantastical version of Cubism. Kandinsky is widely credited as the first purely abstract painter: "There is no must in art because art is free". Here was true egalitarianism: arts evolved and flourished across every medium, spirits soared and an entire generation dreamt of a new world.


And then, everything changed. Stalin stomped down on this brave new creativity. Strict guidelines were imposed. The only art permitted by law was a new Socialist Realism, which glorified depictions of Communist ideals. Think idealised depictions of everyday life. Relevant, representative and understandable to the proleteriat. Think strong, healthy smiling, working men. Creativity was out, the cult of the dictator was in.


So the artistic landscape was split in two. And this fascinating schism is the subject of a new exhibition at the Royal Academy. Encompassing photography, sculpture, filmmaking and evocative propaganda posters from the golden era for graphic design, this transporting show will free Russian history from textbooks.





What Revolution: Russian Art, Royal Academy
Where Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD | MAP
Nearest tube Green Park (underground)
When 11 Feb 17 – 17 Apr 17, 11 February – 17 April 2017 10am – 6pm, Fridays until 10pm
Price £(without donation £16). Concessions available. Friends of the RA and under 16s go free.
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

10 things to do this weekend
Things to do in London this weekend: 15 - 17 January
Ellie Bamber and Billy Howle in The Serpent, BBC One (Photo: BBC)
The Serpent, BBC One review
UK Disneyland? Paramount Theme Park, Kent. Photo: Paramount
Everything you need to know about UK Disneyland, Kent's London Resort

A little more


  • ART SCENE INSIDER

    The highlights of London’s year in art

    BRAND NEW TATE

    Everything you need to know about the Tate Modern renovations

Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Gazelle

    Walking into Gazelle is like entering a private members' club, discreetly signed, upstairs in an Edwardian Mayfair building with its own elevator. It is perfectly possible to dip inside for pre-dinner cocktail. For a post-dinner moody tryst it is most inviting too.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • The Araki

    The first Japanese restaurant in Britain to be awarded three Michelin stars, The Araki has a simple premise: one menu, eleven courses, all sushi. This is seriously high-end, gourmet stuff and you won't experience anything else like it. The restaurant itself is breathtaking with Edo period-inspired décor and a counter made from a two hundred year-old Japanese cypress.


    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Nopi, Soho

    With a menu that changes with the seasons, Yotam Ottolenghi's Nopi always has something new to offer – although certain classics remain favourites, such as its delicious courgette and manouri fritters. It is best to go for lunch – less touristy and less busy – but don’t forget to book.

    Read more...
    Book Map
5

Art

Exhibition

Russia

Gallery

Royal Academy

Kandinsky

Modernism

You might like

  •  Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles, (1952), on loan from Canberra. Photograph: © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation ARS, NY

    Abstract Expressionism review, Royal Academy ★★★★★

  • James Ensor artist, The Intrigue, 1890, © Royal Museum for Fine Arts Antwerp / www.lukasweb.be – Art in Flanders vzw. Photography: Hugo Maertens / © DACS 2015, Royal Academy London

    James Ensor by Luc Tuymans, Royal Academy ★★★★★

  • Robert Rauschenberg, Tate Modern review [STAR:5]

    Robert Rauschenberg, Tate Modern review ★★★★★

  • Mood meets colour: Maya in a Sailor Suit, 1938

    National Portrait Gallery: Picasso Portraits review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×