DE · EN

Pressemeldungen Kommunikations-KonzeptePR-Agentur Public Relations ArchitekturLektorat Redaktion Korrektorat Verlage Architekten

Anmeldung

Press information

Cover Hochformat (AG Rotterdam)

James Hill, Anna Petrova, Evgeniya Kudelina
Art for Architecture Moscow. Monumental Soviet Mosaics 1925  – 1991
With contributions by Anna Bronovitskaya
134 x 245 mm, 444 pages
650 images, Softcover
ISBN 978-3-86922-068-0 (English)
ISBN 978-3-86922-079-6 (Russian)
EUR 38.00 / CHF 49.40
February 2022. DOM publishers, Berlin

New from DOM publishers:

James Hill, Anna Petrova, Evgeniya Kudelina

Art for Architecture Moscow. Monumental Soviet Mosaics 1925  – 1991

Metro stations with lavish mosaics from the Stalin era, modern or postmodern depictions that adorn the walls of schools, factories and prefab high-rise apartment blocks, proclaiming a prosperous farmer's and worker's paradise: mosaics are omnipresent in Moscow - so much so, in fact, that they are often simply taken for granted. That might also be why nobody pays much attention to them, and some are seen as superfluous relics from the age of communist propaganda without an own artistic merit. They are rarely taken care of and mostly left to their own devices or simply destroyed together with the buildings they are attached to.

The architectural guide Art for Architecture Moscow. Monumental Soviet Mosaics 1925-1991 examines the monumental mosaics that were created in Moscow during the Soviet era. They show idealised images of a societal new beginning and the USSR's political proclamations. While monumental mosaics became common in other Soviet cities and republics in the 1960s during the age of modernism, mosaics in the capital of the USSR have been used for works in the art deco style and for 'pictures' in the socialist realist style since the 1930s. As a result, the entire history of Soviet art is reflected in Moscow's metro stations, palaces of culture, military museums, hospitals, schools, and apartment blocks. This book is structured chronologically, and in the four sections the authors show and describe a total of 140 mosaics in art deco, socialist realism, modernism, and postmodernism styles. The guide places well-known works by Alexander Deyneka, Pavel Korin, Boris Chernyshev, Evgeny Ablin, Yury Korolev, and Leonid Polishchuk side by side with mosaics by artists whose names were excluded from the history of art and architecture for a long time.

The English photographer James Hill spent three years seeking out and photographing works of Soviet monumental art, which he now presents together with Evgeniya Kudelina and Anna Petrova in this guide. The index in the appendix lists 322 mosaics from Moscow that have been documented, identified, or where an artist can be attributed, as well as some that are not in existence any more. An introduction into the history of Russian mosaics is provided by the art and architecture historian Anna Bronovitskaya.

 

 

Moscow Mosaics

 

 
Moscow Mosaics

 

 
Moscow Mosaics

Images: © James Hill

» Press images

The Architectural Guides by DOM publishers are handy travel companions for readers interested in architecture and culture. Projects are carefully selected and researched to make each individual book a ready work of reference, while background information and attractive design inspire armchair travellers to imaginary journeys. In 2014, the series was awarded with the „Iconic Award“ by the German Design Council, in 2016 with the „German Design Award Special“ and in 2017 it received the ITB Book Award.
Further information at: www.dom-publishers.com