Constructing Female Identity in Soviet Art in the 1930s. A Case Study: Vera Mukhina’s Sculpture

Abstract

The current paper is interested in how female identity is artificially constructed through Soviet propaganda, particularly through a new visual language and symbolism, exemplified through the most famous Soviet sculpture, ‘Worker and Collective Farm Woman (Labourer)” (Robochii i kolkhoznitsa) by Vera Mukhina (1889-1953), presented in Paris at the International Exhibition in 1937, as opposed to German and French architectural achievements. The sculpture summarizes an entire Soviet ‘canon’ (Zhdanov’s Socialist Realism), the concept used both in its religious and aesthetic understanding, connecting a new artificial identity to typical Stalinist imagery and a new visual mythology. The paper studies the female identity as a construct emerging from the connection of all these elements and how its attributes and dimensions are radically changed to adjust the Soviet political discourse.