“I HAVE DONE AWAY WITH STALIN’S CULT OF PERSONALITY, BUT I FULLY SHARE STALIN’S STAND CONCERNING CULTURAL GOVERNANCE”. N.S. KHRUSHCHEV’S ANTAGONISM TO NEW TRENDS IN THE VISUAL ARTS

Abstract

Aim. To study the visual arts (both official and unofficial) of the Thaw era in the context of the social and political life of the period. Methodology. The work utilized the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematicity in conjunction with comparative-historical and specific-historical methods. The study was based on a problem-historical analysis of visual arts in the context of the ideological and political factors of the above-mentioned Soviet period. Results. The paper examines the relationships between power and art and also between different movements in the visual arts during the Thaw. Additionally, the means employed by the Soviet state to fight against abstract art were studied. Research implications. The paper summarises a few issues in the field of visual arts in the era of the Thaw. The materials of the research are aimed at historians who study the period of the Khrushchev Thaw to understand the current stage of cultural relations.