In 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia and overthrew the Tsar. They established a revolutionary communist regime that shifted the means of production to the people. In less than a year, the royal family and their entourage aren’t ever seen again as imperialism is rooted out and splintered, paving the way for Russia’s radical.
Seeing as there were numerous amounts of completely unpainted china available, artists took this as a call to action and got to work. ”The main reason for the Bolsheviks to maintain the porcelain factory was the preservation of cultural heritage,” historian and guest curator of the Hermitage exhibition, Dr. Sjeng Scheijen, says.
When Agitation porcelain, an important phenomenon in which porcelain, a ceramic material made by heating substances, started to become famous, it featured effigies of Lenin and was adorned with calls to action. The creators of this piece had hoped to startle the proletariat, whose works were rather slow in production terms.
In a peculiar turn, some china once meant to depict the regal feasts of the Romanovs (who were the last ever imperial dynasty to have power over all of Russia) now show militant Reds trampling upon their white ermine furs. Natalya Danko’s porcelain chess set used the same colors, a red army attempting to vanquish a skeleton king.
Many of the most visionary artists at the time were recruited to the State Porcelain Manufactory. For example, some members of the Russian Avant-Garde such as Wassily Kandinsky and the suprematist (a person who dwells in the Russian version of abstract art) Kazimir Malevich. Their work featured abstract and geometric styles and they produced feelings that hailed over figuratism (normal art, such as people and objects from the real world).
But most of the time, the artists just wanted to test things out. ”Most of the time the artists were just looking at the forms and how they could integrate their own extremely revolutionary, abstract language that they had developed, into these particular forms,” says Scheijen.
Link:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656880002532x416782483752314900/How%20teapots%20were%20used%20to%20spread%20Russian%20propaganda%20-%20BBC%20Culture.pdf
Seeing as there were numerous amounts of completely unpainted china available, artists took this as a call to action and got to work. ”The main reason for the Bolsheviks to maintain the porcelain factory was the preservation of cultural heritage,” historian and guest curator of the Hermitage exhibition, Dr. Sjeng Scheijen, says.
When Agitation porcelain, an important phenomenon in which porcelain, a ceramic material made by heating substances, started to become famous, it featured effigies of Lenin and was adorned with calls to action. The creators of this piece had hoped to startle the proletariat, whose works were rather slow in production terms.
In a peculiar turn, some china once meant to depict the regal feasts of the Romanovs (who were the last ever imperial dynasty to have power over all of Russia) now show militant Reds trampling upon their white ermine furs. Natalya Danko’s porcelain chess set used the same colors, a red army attempting to vanquish a skeleton king.
Many of the most visionary artists at the time were recruited to the State Porcelain Manufactory. For example, some members of the Russian Avant-Garde such as Wassily Kandinsky and the suprematist (a person who dwells in the Russian version of abstract art) Kazimir Malevich. Their work featured abstract and geometric styles and they produced feelings that hailed over figuratism (normal art, such as people and objects from the real world).
But most of the time, the artists just wanted to test things out. ”Most of the time the artists were just looking at the forms and how they could integrate their own extremely revolutionary, abstract language that they had developed, into these particular forms,” says Scheijen.
Link:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656880002532x416782483752314900/How%20teapots%20were%20used%20to%20spread%20Russian%20propaganda%20-%20BBC%20Culture.pdf
