Karl Marx, poster Azerbaijan SSR 1920 -- Daily LIFT #189

Karl Marx, poster Azerbaijan SSR 1920 -- Daily LIFT #189

Happy Victory Day!

Happy Victory Day!

May 9th, 1945 was Victory Day in the USSR when the Soviets officially accepted the surrender of Germany after years of devastating war. The world owes the peoples of the Soviet Union an immense debt of gratitude for their extreme sacrifices in the struggle to defeat  fascism.

Victory Day was an official holiday in the USSR and continues to be honoured in many of the former Soviet republics.

Victory at Dien Bien Phu, May 7, 1954

Victory at Dien Bien Phu, May 7, 1954

On May 7, 1954 General Giáp ordered the final assault on the French imperial troops at Dien Bien Phu. The day ended in total victory over the French forces after nearly 2 months of siege and battle. It was a decisive victory for the Vietnamese freedom fighters and such a crushing blow for the French that it ultimately led to the final departure of all French troops from Vietnam in 1956.

Neoliberalism, plunder and unemployment -- Cuban Poster Daily LIFT #187

Neoliberalism, plunder and unemployment -- Cuban Poster Daily LIFT #187

Neoliberalism, plunder and unemployment is the agenda of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Seven Pairs of the Clean and Seven Pairs of the Unclean, Vladimir Mayakovsky Sketch, 1919 -- Daily LIFT #186

Seven Pairs of the Clean and Seven Pairs of the Unclean, Vladimir Mayakovsky Sketch, 1919 -- Daily LIFT #186

Famed Soviet poet, writers and artist Mayakovsky did this sketch as a scene design for his revolutionary play Mystery Bouffe.  In the end the "unclean" proletariat triumphs over the "clean" bourgeoisie.

Vietnamese Poster for National Reunification Day, April 30, 1975

Vietnamese Poster for National Reunification Day, April 30, 1975

April 30, 1975 Saigon -- now Ho Chi Minh City -- was liberated by the forces of North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the decades long struggle against western and American imperialism in Vietnam ended. The liberation of Saigon marked the beginning of peace and the process that led to full reunification of the North and South in 1976. It is a national holiday in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

May 1, International Workers' Day Holiday Card, USSR 1976 -- Daily LIFT #185

May 1, International Workers' Day Holiday Card, USSR 1976 -- Daily LIFT #185

May Day, painting by Renato Guttuso -- Daily LIFT #184

May Day, painting by Renato Guttuso -- Daily LIFT #184

Guttuso (1911 - 1987) was a renowned Italian artist, anti-fascist and leftist. He was awarded a World Peace Council Prize in 1950 and the Order of Lenin in 1972.

Capitalism Also Depends On Domestic Labour, Red Women's Workshop, UK 1975 -- Daily LIFT #183

Capitalism Also Depends On Domestic Labour, Red Women's Workshop, UK 1975 -- Daily LIFT #183

Poster for the 110th anniversary of Lenin's birth, USSR 1980 -- Daily LIFT #182

Poster for the 110th anniversary of Lenin's birth, USSR 1980 -- Daily LIFT #182

Lenin on the Direct Wire - Soviet artist Igor Grabar (1871—1960) -- Daily Lift #177

Lenin on the Direct Wire - Soviet artist Igor Grabar (1871—1960) -- Daily Lift #177

Ban the Atomic Bomb, Painting, Hans Grundig GDR, 1954 -- Daily LIFT #175

Ban the Atomic Bomb, Painting, Hans Grundig GDR, 1954 -- Daily LIFT #175

Grundig (1901 - 1958) was a German artist who joined the Communist Party in 1926. Under the Nazis he was arrested multiple times and ultimately was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1940 - 44. Amazingly he survived.

After the war he became an art professor in the German Democratic Republic. This was one of his last major works.

Soviet Poster in Honour of Yuri Gagarin's Historic Space Flight, April 12, 1961 -- Daily LIFT #172

Soviet Poster in Honour of Yuri Gagarin's Historic Space Flight, April 12, 1961 -- Daily LIFT #172

The poster text reads Long Live the Courage, Labour and Intellect of the Soviet People.

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. This was a remarkable accomplishment for Soviet science and the Soviet people having come out of the incredible devastation of the Second World War just 16 years previously.

You can read more about Gagarin's Flight at: Yuri Gagarin, First Man in Space, born March 9, 1934

And more about the Soviet space program at: A look at the Soviet space program on the anniversary of Gagarin's flight

Fraternal Greetings to the Heroic Cuban People Building Socialism!, Soviet Poster, 1975 -- Daily LIFT #171

Fraternal Greetings to the Heroic Cuban People Building Socialism!, Soviet Poster, 1975 -- Daily LIFT #171

Knowledge For Everyone!, Poster USSR, 1972 -- Daily LIFT #163

Knowledge For Everyone!, Poster USSR, 1972 -- Daily LIFT #163

Anti-Imperialist Poster, People's Republic of China, 1963 -- Daily LIFT #160

Anti-Imperialist Poster, People's Republic of China, 1963 -- Daily LIFT #160

Together with Viet Nam, Cuban Solidarity Poster, 1971 -- Daily LIFT #159

Together with Viet Nam, Cuban Solidarity Poster, 1971 -- Daily LIFT #159

First Days of October, Georgy Savitsky (1887 – 1949) Daily LIFT #156

First Days of October, Georgy Savitsky (1887 – 1949) Daily LIFT #156

Savitsky was a founder of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia and a prominent early Socialist Realist Soviet painter. This painting portrayed a Bolshevik street guard in the earliest days of the revolution. It was completed in 1930. 

Strengthen the Union of the Hammer and Sickle -- Daily LIFT #155

Strengthen the Union of the Hammer and Sickle -- Daily LIFT #155

Soviet Five Year Plan Poster c. 1985

Art and Artists of the Soviet Crimea, 1957 -- 15 Paintings

Published in 1957 in the USSR this folder of 15 cards looked at the art and artists of the Soviet Crimea. The works here were painted between 1946 and 1956.

Thematically they range from street scenes, to landscapes, flowers and, of course, Black Sea, coastal or maritime studies.

Among the standouts are The Feat of the Five Black Sea Men by Yuri Volkovis, a powerful look at the last stand of Soviet soldiers faced by a Nazi tank attack during World War Two; Seashore by K. A. Prokhorov and At the Pier, by S. G. Mamchich. Both Bathing and Yalta Cityscape are colorful and very charming.

The cards were originally in Ukrainian. I have translated the titles of every piece and, where possible, the names of the artists. In some cases I have provided brief biographical notes.

The Feat of the Five Black Sea Men, Yuri Volkov

Volkov, who became a renowned painter after the war, won medals for bravery as well as for participating in the liberation of Vienna, Budapest and Prague while serving in it. He was also awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Bathing

Yalta Cityscape 

Riga Seaside

Ruins of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Vladimir Yanovsky

Yanovsky  (1876 - 1966 ) - born in the Crimea was a watercolorist who was named an Honored Artist of Ukraine in 1957.

Seashore, K. A. Prokhorov

Prokhorov was named an Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1960.

In the Mountains, Fyodor Zakharov

Zakharov (1919 - 1994) was awarded the title People's Artist of Ukraine in 1978, and in 1987 the Shevchenko National Prize, the highest Ukrainian award for art and literature at the time.

At Noon: Etude - M. I. Fadeev

Simeiz (Simeiz is a coastal, hillside resort town in the Crimea on the Black Sea)

Dobrovsky Landscape

(Dobrovsky is a rural region in central Russia)

Almonds Bloom, V. A. Ferber

Crimean Landscape, V. S. Vladimirov

At the Pier, Stepan Gavrilovich Mamchich  (1924 - 1974 ) 

Mamchich was a renowned Crimean painter of maritime art.

Evening at Sea, S. I. Bokayev

Wildflowers