“The Power of Pictures: Early Soviet Photography, Early Soviet Film”

From the very beginnings of the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks enlisted modern artist to promote the Soviet state. Initially, this effort included the likes of Malevich, El Lissitzky and Tatlin, figures whose radically futuristic art was deemed especially suitable for spreading the equally radical message of the new regime. After Stalin succeeded Lenin, however, he decided that abstraction was too confusing for the masses, and imposed the official figurative style we know as Socialist Realism. Still, photography and film were exempted for the most part, and given greater experimental leeway, at least for while during the 1920s and 1930s. That period proved to be something of a golden age for both mediums, one which remains hugely influential today. This survey by the Jewish Museums looks back at a time when cutting-edge photography and cinema had a home in the unlikeliest of places.