“All flowers — ​to Lenin”. Some specials of Moscow jubeleum exhibition and its political context

The article studies Moscow art exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin. Organized by a Moscow organization of the Union of Artists, the exhibition was one of the largest ones in the post-war period and united almost a half of a thousand painters. Being a part of Brezhnev's cultural policy program focused on creating myths of the past, the exhibition was to celebrate the revolution and, as a consequence, to enhance the status of the modern Communist Party. However, the Artists Union committee changed the concept of the exhibition: it declined an art narrative of Lenin's life and activities, and announced it as a special report made by contemporary artists in front of the mythologized leader. Such trick made it possible to expand the thematic and to include artists of different aesthetic views and genres. Final exhibition reflected an important paradox of its time: artists reported in front of Lenin with the works which content contradicted the main principles and gains of the revolution. The exposition lacked for revolution scenes, but abounded in idyllic landscapes of the Russian countryside, images of old cities with narrow streets and orthodox temples, as well as scenes of patriarchal life. Thus, the exhibition, which was made to show the state of the art community 50 years after the revolution revealed the complete alienation of artists from the historical situation and represented their desire to distance themselves from the official ideology by depicting subjects from private life and pre-revolutionary past. The article is based on unpublished documents from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts funds.