USSR Stuff (1932-1985 CE)

Question 1

Illustration from the Results of the First Five-Year Plan

Answer 1

Serves the ideals of the USSR
Ode to the success of the first Five-Year Plan (list of goals to grow the Soviet economy and speed up industrialization, including collective farming, creating a military and artillery industry, and increasing steel production)
Propaganda!
Black and white alternated with sepia photographs
Geometric planes of red that structure the composition (red is the color of USSR flag)
Public address speakers on a platform with the number 5 (like the 5-year plan!)
CCCP (Russian initials for USSR) above a portrait of Lenin (who is speaking to a large crowd and looking into the feature)
2D elements seem to pop out due to the sharp contrasts

Question 2

Illustration from the Results of
the First Five-Year Plan IDs

Answer 2

Varvara Stepanova
1932 CE
Constructivism
Photomontage

Question 3

Androgyn III

Answer 3

Burlap dipped in resin then pressed into a plaster mold (allows wrinkled skin and the implication of bones, muscles, and veins in the back)
Hollow and repetitious
Sexual characteristics are de-emphasized, forces the viewer to focus on humanity rather than gender
Fragmentary nature (reflects the time the artist spent in the hospital during WWII and her childhood trauma)
Intended to be seen in the round
Ambiguous (applies broadly to human experiences)
Alludes to the brutality of war and the totalitarian state
Body as a husk without arms, legs, or a head
Expression of suffering

Question 4

Androgyn III IDs

Answer 4

Magdalena Abakanowicz
1985 CE
Social Realism
Burlap, resin, wood, nails, and string