Dr Anita Pisch
  • Home
  • About
  • stalin poster of the week
  • Publications
  • Contact

stalin poster of the week

Picture

This blog was first published on the properganderpress website https://properganderpressblog.wordpress.com/category/stalin-poster-of-the-week/

Stalin poster of the week 109 (SPotW109)

9/12/2018

0 Comments

 

Nina Vatolina, Glory to the great friend of children!, 1952

Picture
Nina Vatolina (ватолина, н.), Glory to the great friend of children! (слава великому другу детей!), 1952

This 1952 poster by renowned poster artist Nina Vatolina employs serene pastel tones and lush foliage to represent the advent of the imminent communist utopia.


Stalin appears grandfatherly with a protective hand supporting the young boy as he stands atop a podium. The symbolism is obvious and works on a few levels.


Picture
Stalin appears as a protective symbolic grandfather, adopting the mantle of Grandpa Lenin

In one sense, Stalin, now in his 70s and only a year away from death, is passing the baton to the new generation - those born after the war in a time of comparative peace.


In another, the child is symbolic of the fledgling communist regime, joyously taking its place in the world with a promise of peace and abundance in the future. The child is identifiably Russian and, with his little red flag aloft, leads the union of republics into the future.


In contrast to the 1930s when Stalin was often pictured with female children (passive and grateful), the children taking the USSR into the future are male.


As a symbolic grandfather, Stalin moves away from the role of father of the nation and occupies the niche formerly held by 'Grandpa Lenin'. Stalin has thus moved beyond the role of disciple and occupies the role of master, an equivalent status to the deified Lenin.


Picture
The little Russian boy joyously leads the way into the future

Both Stalin and the child wear white. This symbolises purity and clarity, but Stalin is also dressed in his Marshal's uniform, emphasising his role as the saviour of the nation in the Great Patriotic War. On his chest, Stalin wears the Gold Star Medal, awarded to heroes of the Soviet Union for exceptional feats in combat.


The Spassky tower in the background soars into a benign blue sky. The hands on the clock are visible and show that it is late morning. Two aspects of this depiction of the Spassky tower are slightly unusual.


The top of the tower with its familiar red star is out of the picture frame. The Spassky tower usually functions in posters as something of a Bolshevik place of worship, the star paralleling the Christian cross.


And the crenellated walls of the Kremlin are visible close behind Stalin and the child. The Kremlin is being depicted here as a protective fortress, enclosing the pair in a lush and verdant garden that is safe, but separated from, the outside world.


Nina Vatolina created hundreds of posters over a long and illustrious career. Many were created in partnership with her husband, Nikolai Denisov, who was the son of legendary graphic artist Viktor Deni. Vatolina frequently dealt with themes related to Soviet childhood, although she was also responsible for some of the most iconic war posters during the Great Patriotic War.


She had two solo exhibitions of her work in 1957 and 1968, and died in Moscow in 2002.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Dr Anita Pisch

    Anita’s new, fully illustrated book, The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929 -1953, published by ANU Press, is available for free download here, and can also be purchased in hard copy from ANU Press.

    Picture

    Archives

    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    RSS Feed

BLOG ARCHIVE - STALIN POSTER OF THE WEEK
SPotW1 Toidze 1947
SPotW2 Klutsis 1930
SPotW3 Chronicle 1938
SPotW4 Podobedov 1940
SPotW5
Deni 1930
SPotW6 Klutsis 1933
SPotW7 Efimov 1933
SPotW8 Govorkov 1936
SPotW9 Koretskii 1949
SPotW10
Foreign policy 1940
SPotW11 Pravdin 1950
SPotW12 Karpovskii 1948
SPotW13 Mizin 1934
SPotW14 Klutsis 1931
SPotW15
Koretskii 1943
SPotW16 I.V. Stalin 1930
SPotW17 Volkova/Pinus 1938
SPotW18 Toidze 1941
SPotW19 Stalin's affection 1949
SPotW20 Berezovskii 1947


SPotW21 50 Years 1929
SPotW22 Petrov 1948
SPotW23 Arakelov 1939
SPotW24 Ivanov 1952
SPotW25 Solomyanii 1952


SPotW26 Belopol'skii 1952
SPotW27 Kaidalov 1940
SPotW28 Mytnikov 1950
SPotW29 Yang 1938
SPotW30 Golub' 1950


SPotW31 Vorontsov 1951
SPotW32 Belopol'skii, 1951
SPotW33 Deni 1931
SPotW34 Madorskii 1938
SPotW35 Leader, teacher, friend 1941


SPotW36 Al'menov 1951
SPotW37 Deni 1937
SPotW38 Cheprakov 1941
SPotW39 Enemy, 1941
SPotW40 Zotov, 1934

SPotW41 Grinets 1937
SPotW42 Vatolina 1939
SPot
W43  Zhukov 1940
SPotW44 Fedotov 1943
SPotW45 Golub' 1949

SPotW46 Vatolina 1950
SPotW47 Solov'ev 1950
SPotW48 Mel'nikova 1951
SPotW49 Kokorekin 1951
SPotW50 Ivanov El'tsufen 1952

SPotW51 Unknown 1952
SPotW52 Klutsis 1932
SPotW53 Printing 1950
SPotW54 Lukhtein 1951
SPotW55 Toidze 1946

SPotW56 Litvinov 1949
SPotW57 Serov 1942
SPotW58 Pinchuk 1943
SPotW59 Petrov 1952
SPotW60 Podobedov 1939

SPotW61 Babitskii 1944
SPotW62 Pen Varlen 1942
SPotW63 Bayuskin 1942
SPotW64 Belopol'skii 1950
SPotW65 Belopol'skii 1952

SPotW 81 Koretskii 1950
SPotW 82 Pravdin 1950
SPotW83 Vatolina 1938
SPotW 84 Deni 1938
SPotW85 
Koretskii 1945


SPotW66 Dlugach 1933
SPotW67 Zhitomirskii 1942
SPotW68 Toidze 1949
SPotW69 Mikhailov 1937
SPotW70 Cheprakov 1939

SPotW 86 Kazantsev 1944
SPotW 87 Civil War 1938

SPotW 88 Kun 1937
SPotW 89 Spirit 1941
SPotW 90 Ryvkin 1939

SPotW71 Deni 1935
SPotW72 Deni 1935
SPotW73 Defence 1938
SPotW74 Elkin 1939
SPotW75 Zarnitskii

SPotW 91 Moor 1938
SPotW 92 Ivanov 1948
SPotW 93 Govorkov 1951
SPotW 94 Denisov 1941
SPotW 95 Ledby 1942

SPotW76 Toidze 1943
SPotW77 Futerfas 1936
SPotW78 Mukhin 1945
SPotW79 Golub' 1948
SPotW80 Karpovskii 1948

SPotW 96
SPotW 97
SPotW 98
SPotW 99
SPotW 100

Copyright © 2015
  • Home
  • About
  • stalin poster of the week
  • Publications
  • Contact