Soviet Textiles: Designing the Modern Utopia - Softcover

Kachurin, Pamela Jill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0853319529 ISBN 13: 9780853319528

Publisher: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

"Soviet Textiles" is a fascinating examination of a unique experiment in Communist Russia. Between 1927 and 1933 the making of textiles took up the challenge of propagandizing through printed fabrics. A group of young designers in the newly emerged Communist state began to create thematic textile designs. They depicted tractors, smokestacks and other symbols of collective modernity for clothing and household use. These images were thought to be emblematic of the modern industrialized nation whose success depended on the common will of its citizens. In the practice of utilitarianism textile design seemed to be a natural means of creating the ideal citizen. Ultimately the experiment failed as the populace clung to their traditional floral motifs. However a series of innovative and bold designs emerged from the effort. "Soviet Textiles: Designing the Modern Utopia" presents some forty of these fabrics held in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and discusses the political and artistic contexts that gave rise to them.

About this title

About the Author

Pamela Jill Kachurin is Associate Director of the Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, and is lecturer in Art History both at Harvard University, USA.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0853319529
• ISBN 13: 9780853319528
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96