Central Asia in Art

In the midst of the space race and nuclear age, Soviet Realist artists were producing figurative oil paintings. Why? How was art produced to control and co-opt the peripheries of the Soviet Union, particularly Central Asia? Presenting the 'untold story' of Soviet Orientalism, Aliya Abykayeva-Tiesenhausen re-evaluates the imperial project of the Soviet state, placing the Orientalist undercurrent found within art and propaganda production in the USSR alongside the creation of new art forms in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. From the turmoil of the 1930s through to the post-Stalinist era, the author draws on meticulous new research and rich illustrations to examine the political and social structures in the Soviet Union - and particularly Soviet Central Asia - to establish vital connections between Socialist Realist visual art, the creation of Soviet identity and later nationalist sentiments.

Aliya Abykayeva-Tiesenhausen is an art historian specializing in twentieth-century and contemporary Central asian art. She holds a PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Introduction: Soviet Orientalism - the Untold Story
Chapter 1. The Politics of Multinationalism: Messages from the Centre
The Union of Nations
Nationality Policy
The Great Russian People
The Imperial Project and Soviet Art
Russification
Transformations
Moscow and Muscovites
Metro
The War
Chapter 2. Soviet Totalitarianism: the Visual Experiment
Invented Doctrine and Exploitation of Visual Imagery
Art Caged within Gesamtkunstwerk
Ideal Humans in the Multinational Context of the USSR
Chapter 3. Teaching to See: Bringing Art to the Republics
Central Asia and the Great Russian Brother
Exploitation, Labour and Industry
Semion Chuikov: Daughters of Soviet Kyrgyzia (or Lolitas of the Soviet East
Soviet Orientalism? Or Orientalism as Alternative?
Pavel Benkov: Soviet Impressionism
Alexander Volkov: Alternative East or Late Modernism
Museumification of National Identity
Chapter 4. Learning to Be: the Natives Learn to Paint or the Arrival of Soviet Identities
National versus Soviet: from History to Everyday Life
The Challenge to Tradition: the Patriarchal family versus the Soviet Friend
Literacy, Language and Education
Land, Agricultural Production and Nostalgia
Abylkhan Kasteev: Primitive and National
Ural Tansykbaev: Avant-Garde road to Socialist Realist Dream
Conclusion. De-Stalinization and Beyond, from Stalin to Borat
After Stalin?
From Kasteev to Meldibekov
Central Asia, Soviet Art, Orientalism: Discourses and Images
Bibliographical References
List of Illustrations
Illustrations
Appendix: Artists' Biographies