Soviet women and their art : the spirit of equality

This newpublication provides a cross-disciplinary examination of early 20thcentury feminism and gender politics in the Soviet Union in relation to therise and development of prominent female artists and sculptors.

The book coversthe period from the end of WWI and pre-Revolutionary Russia to Gorbachev's perestroikaand the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

It consists of a collection of essaysby leading specialists in the field, academics and independent scholars,covering major events in Soviet history, art and culture and exploring the roleof women in society, the representation of women in art, and discussing theoeuvre and artistic practices of Soviet female artists. The bookinitially examines the emergence of prominent female artists, leaders of theAvant-garde movement in the 1910s-1920s.

Following this, a chapter delves intoStalin's era which saw only a handful of outstanding female artists such as V. Mukhina rising to the top of the cultural artistic elite.

Many of the femaleartists and sculptors were driven into obscurity and mainly worked as stagedesigners or book illustrators.

Then the book focuses on the arrival ofKhrushchev's Thaw which temporarily and partially relieved the oppressive rolethat the Communist Party played in all domains of life in the Soviet Union andin the creative process in particular.

This led to the emergence ofNonconformists, a new wave of artists, and quite a few of them were women.