Radical Russia

"The revolutions of 1917 in Russia swept away the centuries-old Romanov dynasty and installed Lenin's Bolsheviks in power. Russian art and culture too were thrown into disarray as traditional forms of expression were challenged and subverted by a new generation of young, radical artists and writers who seized upon the dramatic development of abstraction in west European art and gave it a uniquely Russian character. Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Maiakovskii, Natalia Goncharova and El Lissitzky each brought their own style to the Russian avant-garde, shocking and provoking their audiences. This new book by Peter Waldron discusses how the worlds of art and politics became intertwined in revolutionary Russia. Radical Russian culture flourished even before the cataclysmic revolutions of 1917, and revolutionary art helped to fuel the fundamental political changes symbolised by the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in October 1917. The avant-garde devoted their energies to creating a new revolutionary society in Russia, creating stylish new objects to be used as part of everyday life, designing buildings, staging festivals and producing propaganda. Art and culture stood in the vanguard of a revolution that encompassed every facet of Russian life."