1917 Centenary

1917 Centenary

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

Vladimir Lenin

Pablo Picasso (in the beret) and scene painters working on set design for Leonid Massine’s Parade, staged by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris, 1917.
K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 26 October 2017 10:26

Dancing Up a Storm: the 1917 Revolution and Russian ballet

Written by
Carolyn Pouncy tells the story of how Russian ballet was modernised, democratised and eventually revitalised by the 1917 Russian Revolution.Ask people unfamiliar with dance history where ballet originated, and many will say, “Russia.” Although the wrong answer—ballet originated at the court of Louis XIV, based on formal dance traditions already…
Alexander Deineka, Textile Workers, 1927
K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 26 October 2017 10:26

Great art, shame about the curating

Written by
Christine Lindey reviews the current Royal Academy exhibition, and recommends the art - but not the didactic, vindictive and reactionary curation. In January 1918 the Russian Soviet Republic was the first state in the world to officially support the avant-garde. Fired by the revolution’s socialist ideology, artists rejected the tsarist regime’s…
El Lissitzsky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919
K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 28 October 2017 13:22

October 1917: The Spark For Great Art

Written by
Christine Lindey explains how the 1917 Russian Revolution inspired the transformation of the visual arts into instruments of popular liberation. “In the land of the Soviets every kitchen maid must be able to rule the state,” said Lenin and the arts were an intrinsic part of the Bolshevik revolution’s attempt…
Page 2 of 2