The Russian Concept

Igor Sopronenko's documentary offers a helpful art history lesson on the development of Russian culture during the post-Stalin years. Following the Soviet dictator's death in 1953, a new wave of nonconformists took advantage of the slight thaw in governmental repression of iconoclastic behavior. Slowly, these artists began to express their imagination in a manner that deviated considerably from the harsh—and, quite frankly, dull—socialist realism style advocated by the Kremlin. Their work was mostly unknown within the U.S.S.R. until the Perestroika period under Mikhail Gorbachev, but Western art lovers were still able to appreciate their output thanks to the indefatigable spirit of American collector Norton Dodge, who smuggled some 10,000 pieces from behind the Iron Curtain. The Russian Concept features a marvelous line-up of innovative and provocative works from 60 artists—many of these paintings reside in private collections and are being seen publicly for the first time in years here. Also included are comments from American and Russian art critics, as well as in-depth interviews with artists including Vitaly Komar, Alexander Kosolapov, Oleg Vassiliev, and Leonid Sokov, who offer cogent firsthand insights into the dark years of the Soviet regime and the abrupt flowering of artistic expression in the post-Soviet period. An engaging look at the mid-20th-century flowering of Russian art, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)