Martin Gayford

The good, the bad and the ugly

The energy, hope and creativity was only evident in the early stage of the Russian revolution, after which murderous cruelty and messianic delusion kicked in

Vladimir Putin notoriously declared the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 to be one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century. However, as Revolution: Russian Art 1917–32 — an ambitious exhibition at the Royal Academy — helps to make clear, the true catastrophe had occurred 82 years earlier, in 1917.

Like many of the tragedies of human history, the Russian revolution was accompanied, at least in the early stages, by energy, hope and creativity as well as by murderous cruelty and messianic delusion. The greatest symbol of the last was Vladimir Tatlin’s huge projected ‘Monument to the Third International’ (1920), a sort of communist successor to Bruegel’s ‘Tower of Babel’, much higher than the Eiffel Tower and intended to house an international government of the entire globe.

‘We are now experiencing an exceptional epoch,’ proclaimed the artist El Lissitzky. ‘A new, real and cosmic birth in the world within ourselves enters our consciousness.’ He and many others welcomed the Bolshevik uprising, believing that revolutionary art could help create a new and
better society.

They were wrong. Revolution starts with a survey of Soviet art held in Leningrad/St Petersburg in 1932, a point when the avant-garde ferment was being suppressed and the era of Soviet realism was beginning. Consequently, a lot of what can be seen on the walls of Burlington House is disappointing. The good paintings dotted through the show are by familiar giants of modernism — Malevich, Kandinsky, Chagall (the last two escaped to western Europe early on). A room devoted to a figurative artist, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, who is little known in the West only half convinces: on this evidence he was an interestingly idiosyncratic painter of still-life, but feeble when it came to people.

On the other hand, bad art can be as illuminating, historically, as good art.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in