Focusing on the representation and self-representation of women in Soviet art, this exhibition explores the roles and perspectives of women under the Soviet system from the 1950s–1980s.
Women workers were prominently featured in Soviet art reflecting the Soviet government’s claim to gender equality as well as the wide-ranging involvement of women in the Soviet economy. Based on the Marxist claim that the foremost class oppression was that of the female by the male, the Soviet Constitution of 1918 proclaimed equal rights of men and women in all spheres of life. At the same time, the Soviet state limited personal freedoms and imposed new burdens. Soviet women had to learn to handle the demands and dilemmas of the communist rule and rapid modernization. This exhibition will explore the unique situation of a Soviet woman balanced between official claims and experienced realities of Soviet woman’s life.