Red Star Over Russia A Revolution in Visual Culture
Mimi Berlin Blogger Team went to see the Red Star Over Russia (A Revolution in Visual Culture 1905 – ’55) exhibition at the Tate Modern in London the other day. This exhibition marks the centenary of the October Revolution. On show is a visual history of Russia and the Soviet Union. From the overthrow of the last Tsar and the revolutionary uprisings of 1917, through to the struggles of the Civil War and Stalin’s campaign of terror, it reveals how political events led to the social transformation that inspired a wave of innovation in art and graphic design across the country.
David King
‘Red Star Over Russia’ is made with the huge collection of the late graphic designer David King (1943 – 2016) which carries over a quarter of a million artefacts by famous and anonymous photographers, artists and designers, it features over 250 posters, paintings, photographs, books and ephemera. King started his collection of over 250,000 items relating to this period while working for The Sunday Times Magazine in the 1970s. The collection was acquired by Tate in 2016. Read and see more on David King.
The exhibition explores how new popular art in the form of posters, periodicals, leaflets and banners informed, educated and entertained the people, filtering into the everyday lives of tens of millions of citizens.
Red Star over Russia is an opportunity to see the rare propaganda posters, prints and photographs collected by King – some bearing traces of state censorship. Including work by El Lissitzky, Gustav Klutsis, Dmitri Moor, Aleksandr Deineka, Nina Vatolina and Yevgeny Khaldei, it is a thrilling journey through a momentous period in world history. Through February 18, 2018 at Tate Modern.
Danke schön Mr & Mrs J.