A new exhibition entitled “U.S.S.R. 100” at Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union, albeit at a fairly awkward time given Russia’s ongoing invasion of another former Soviet republic and Russian society’s deep polarization on the subject of its Soviet legacy.
The exhibition contains some 400 paintings, sculptures, and other artworks from the collections of the Russian and Belarusian Unions of Artists as well as from private collections and contemporary artists’ studios to present a surprisingly vibrant and varied cross-section of officially-sanctioned Soviet art.