Everyday Soviet: Soviet Design and Nonconformist Art

Voorhees Gallery

This exhibition explores Soviet material environments from the 1950s to the 1980s by juxtaposing design objects, primarily from the Moscow Design Museum, with works by nonconformist artists, from the Zimmerli.

Soviet design from the 1920s and 1930s is widely known and recognized around the world, as many renowned avant-garde artists, designers, and architects contributed to the creation of the material environment for the new century and influenced developments in international design and architecture. Soviet design from the 1950s to 1980s, however, is practically unknown, even though it flourished alongside nonconformist art during the era.

Because the postwar planned economy did not follow the Western model of encouraging consumers to replace old things with newer products, Soviet citizens acquired the limited goods and maintained them for years. In addition, innovation often met resistance at factories, which often replicated the same items for decades, despite the fact that new designs were commissioned and supported by the state.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, some nonconformist artists became well known globally, represented in museum collections and represented by commercial galleries. The names of individual Soviet designers, however, remain largely unknown, as goods produced under factory labels effectively erased the names of their creators.

Bringing together these two collections enriches and complements the understanding of both phenomena and introduces new perspectives on important historical questions. What became of the avant-garde artists’ inspiration to build a new environment for Soviet citizens during the second half of the century? What relationships developed between arts and design, and what roles have design initiatives played in a society with a planned economy and a material deficiency of goods available to citizens? How did this economic model influence the sphere of design? What greater cultural outcomes were the result of this practice of design?

Organized by Julia Tulovsky, Ph.D., Curator of Russian and Soviet Nonconformist Art and Alexandra Sankova, Director of the Moscow Design Museum

The exhibition is made possible by the Avenir Foundation Endowment Fund. Additional support is provided by the Dodge Charitable Trust—Nancy Ruyle Dodge, Trustee, and by donors to the Zimmerli’s Major Exhibition Fund: James and Kathrin Bergin, Alvin and Joyce Glasgold, Michael McCulley, Sundaa and Randy Jones, Hemanshu and Heena Pandya, and the Voorhees Family Endowment.

Some works that appeared in this exhibition were loans to the Zimmerli and therefore do not appear on this website.