Fade to Black: The Composition of Shadow

Monday, October 6, 2008 - Thursday, February 26, 2009

This exhibition explores themes of darkness, nighttime and shadows during the Socialist Realist period of Russian art.  In the official art of Socialist Realism, ‘light’ was a universal metaphor for Soviet life that promised a radiant future to the people.  Soviet artists were expected to produce artwork that was infused with energy and sunlight fit for exposure at state-supported and censored exhibitions.  These scenes, lacking an identifiable source of light, display an experimental desire of Soviet artists that was never completely suppressed.

This exhibition contained paintings by the following artists: Meer (Mark) Moiseevich Akselrod, Klavdiya Erofeevna Balanova, Vitold Kaetanovich Byalynitski-Birulya, Mai Volfovich Dantsig, Mariya Fedorovna Dobrina, Valerian Mikhailovich Formozov, Nikolai Nikolaevich Gorlov, Aleksei Mikhailovich Gritsai, Aleksei Alekseevich Harlamoff, Vladimir Andreevich Korobov, Geli Korzhev, Yuri Petrovich Kugach, Dmitry Vassilievich Lebedev, Yuri Mikhailovich Neprintsev, Amshei Markovich Nyurenberg, Petr Pavlovich Ossovski, Viktor Efimovich Popkov, Georgi Georgievich Ryazhski, Anatoli Mikhailovich Silin, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Vasilev, Vasili Nikolaevich Yakovlev, Pavel Yakushev and Olga Dmitrievna Yanovskaya.