Soviet Women and Their Art by Rena Lavery;Ivan Lindsay;Katia Kapushesky;

Author:Rena Lavery;Ivan Lindsay;Katia Kapushesky; [Rena Lavery and Ivan Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912690626
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 1)
Published: 2019-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Women as Objects of Affection

However much the roles of women in society may change, men’s views of them – and sometimes women’s views of themselves – often contain at least an element of erotic interest. After all, without it there would be reduced hope of procreation. In many cases this becomes evident in art through depictions of the naked form. Whether these works are voyeuristic or celebratory depends to a large extent on the reactions of the viewer. Modern feminist commentary tends to point to the ‘male gaze’ in a pejorative sense, but no one else can ever know whether a viewer is stimulated to having sexual thoughts by looking at a painting, unless that person chooses to share the information. The Russian attitude to sexuality generally, however, is arguably less prudish than in the West. Erotic paintings tend to be seen as a tribute to women’s beauty rather than exploitative.

Early nudes by Russian artists tended to be voluptuous and fuller figured, much like the women depicted by Peter Paul Rubens, the early seventeenth-century Flemish master. With the arrival of the Socialist Realist influence, however, trimmer, sportier, more masculine types began to proliferate, but the women still conformed in most cases to traditional ideals of youthful beauty.

An Azerbaijani artist who portrayed women in a free and joyful mood was Nadir Gambar Abdurakhmanov. Eschewing the ‘austere style’ of his time in favour of lyricism, Abdurakhmanov strove, as Alexandrova and Polyanskaya put it, to express the ‘sublime poetry of life’ that connects humanity seamlessly with the natural world.8 This interconnection can be seen in Youth (1970s), in which a young woman stands, full of vitality, stretching her limbs, her body shape echoing those of the surrounding river and mountains and washed in the same cool pale colours, as if she herself is a feature of the landscape. In what can be read as another homage to nature and womanhood, the semi-nude figure in A Girl on Sand (1968), by Liatif Feizullaiev Mirabdul Bagi Ogly, kneels as in prayer on the shore, a shawl draped across her back as waves lap gently at her feet. Constantin Maksimov portraits of girls stripping off in preparation for swimming are life-affirming depictions of the elemental pleasure of the seaside. In Bathers (1963; Irkutsk Regional Art Museum named after V.P. Sukachov) a nude woman dries herself in the sun beside the glinting water, while the flutter of her companion’s garments shows a delicious cooling breeze.

Nadir Gambar Abdurakhmanov (1925–2008). Youth, 1970s, oil on canvas, 100 × 100 cm. Private collection, London

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