agitprop art

agitprop art (or agitational art). Art used to manipulate ideological beliefs, specifically to spread the ideals of Communism in Russia in the period immediately following the 1917 Revolution. The term ‘agitprop’ (an abbreviation for agitatsionnaya propaganda: ‘agitational propaganda’) was first used soon after the Revolution, and a Department of Agitation and Propaganda was established by the Communist Party in 1920. Agitprop art took numerous forms, ranging from spectacular theatrical performances (such as a re-enactment of the storming of the Winter Palace, performed in Petrograd in 1920 with a cast of 10,000) to the design of sweet wrappers. In the visual arts, one of the most remarkable expressions of agitprop came in the decoration of ‘agit-boats’ and ‘agit-trains’, in which Alexandra Exter played a leading part. ‘These trains were conceived as educational and publicity vehicles with the purpose of taking the Revolution to the furthest corners of Russia. The trains usually had a cinema carriage which showed films of Lenin or Trotsky, and in addition they were well-stocked with Revolutionary manifestos, pamphlets and leaflets. Initially they spread the knowledge of the Revolution into far-flung towns and villages, but later they were used as propaganda vehicles and were sent out to cheer the cause of the Red Army on the Civil War front. Some of the trains painted by Exter and her pupils bore the striking images of the Revolution and the resounding mottos of its leaders, while others were covered in Suprematist compositions which gave the carriages a festive and somewhat fantastic appearance’ ( M. N. Yablonskaya, Women Artists of Russia's New Age, 1990).