In 1917, the Bolsheviks de-throned the Tsar and began a communist rule in Russia. The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory (IPM) was renamed the State Porcelain Manufactory under Vladimir Lenin, and the unpainted china that the company produced became canvases to produce propaganda.
Artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich, members of the Russian Avant-Garde who were some of the most imaginative artists of the time, were recruited by the factory. According to a BBC article written by reporter Deborah Nicholls-Lee, “For the Avant-Garde, art had a role to play in every aspect of that new order, and they brought their unique style to diverse realms such as theatre, music, film and architecture. Ceramics were no different…”
Not only did the employment of artists in the factory benefit the new government, but it also provided benefits to the artists in the post-war period of 1917. During the time, civil war, famine, and disease negatively affected the lives of many Russian citizens. With employment in a government-run facility, not only were the artists promised a regular income, but they also had distinguished connections from the factory.
The teacups were often decorated with cogs, pylons, and more industrial settings. Scenes like smoking chimneys, telegraph wires, and towers replaced the countryside scenes that IPM teacups used to sell. Cogs, sickles, and hammers were used to indicate the “worker’s part of a greater whole”. There was also pottery known as agitation porcelain that “featured effigies of Lenin and was decorated with calls to action.”
Even though the porcelain was used as propaganda, the working class rarely came into contact with the china. Birgit Boelens, from Hermitage Amsterdam, said, “They were too rare, too experimental. ‘The individual pieces are of such a high quality that it took too long to mass produce them.” The sets, therefore, were mainly bought by the wealthy higher-class citizens, and they would only be used as decoration. Not only were many sets too chunky and clumsy for the society at the time, but the hand-painted pottery would get damaged under use.
The use of art as propaganda didn’t end with Lenin’s rule. In the late 20’s, Joseph Stalin used it to glorify his rein, with images such as “the leader surrounded by adoring children and merry communist youth brigades” decorating the pottery.
Link to Article:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656880002532x416782483752314900/How%20teapots%20were%20used%20to%20spread%20Russian%20propaganda%20-%20BBC%20Culture.pdf
Artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich, members of the Russian Avant-Garde who were some of the most imaginative artists of the time, were recruited by the factory. According to a BBC article written by reporter Deborah Nicholls-Lee, “For the Avant-Garde, art had a role to play in every aspect of that new order, and they brought their unique style to diverse realms such as theatre, music, film and architecture. Ceramics were no different…”
Not only did the employment of artists in the factory benefit the new government, but it also provided benefits to the artists in the post-war period of 1917. During the time, civil war, famine, and disease negatively affected the lives of many Russian citizens. With employment in a government-run facility, not only were the artists promised a regular income, but they also had distinguished connections from the factory.
The teacups were often decorated with cogs, pylons, and more industrial settings. Scenes like smoking chimneys, telegraph wires, and towers replaced the countryside scenes that IPM teacups used to sell. Cogs, sickles, and hammers were used to indicate the “worker’s part of a greater whole”. There was also pottery known as agitation porcelain that “featured effigies of Lenin and was decorated with calls to action.”
Even though the porcelain was used as propaganda, the working class rarely came into contact with the china. Birgit Boelens, from Hermitage Amsterdam, said, “They were too rare, too experimental. ‘The individual pieces are of such a high quality that it took too long to mass produce them.” The sets, therefore, were mainly bought by the wealthy higher-class citizens, and they would only be used as decoration. Not only were many sets too chunky and clumsy for the society at the time, but the hand-painted pottery would get damaged under use.
The use of art as propaganda didn’t end with Lenin’s rule. In the late 20’s, Joseph Stalin used it to glorify his rein, with images such as “the leader surrounded by adoring children and merry communist youth brigades” decorating the pottery.
Link to Article:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656880002532x416782483752314900/How%20teapots%20were%20used%20to%20spread%20Russian%20propaganda%20-%20BBC%20Culture.pdf
