Penza’s “Agit-Windows” in Cultural Legacy of Great Patriotic War

Abstract

This article focuses on the creative activities of the Penza poster workshop “Agit-Window” — a provincial equivalent of the “TASS Window” for creating large-format mass publications during the period of the Great Patriotic War. For the first time, archival documents are introduced into scientific circulation. The creative practices of the group of artists who organized the production of agitational materials in Penza are described. The cultural interaction of the artistic intelligentsia at the level of “union center — province” is characterized. The role of the heritage of the Penza art school in the creation and development of the genre of military-defense posters is highly appreciated, as well as the contribution of those artists who were evacuated to Penza during the war. The author focuses on describing the content of the posters “Agit-Window” published in Penza, attempts to classify and differentiate them from other artistic practices. Based on an analysis of surviving original posters, the narrative and artistic evolution of Penza’s “Agit-Window” is traced through its visual features and methods of creation. The author concludes that despite cyclical periods of liquidation and restoration, the Penza workshop for military-defense posters maintained its distinctive style and contributed to the creation of vivid examples of satirical and patriotic graphics.

Keywords

• ussr
• penza region
• great patriotic war
• poster
• union of artists
• creative intelligentsia
• agit-window