This volume is dedicated to the USSR Academy of Arts and the role it has played in the development of Soviet fine arts. The authoritative introduction - written by the Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Arts, Doctor of Arts and USSR State Prize Winner Vladimir Kemenov - presents an historical sketch of the formation of the Russian national art school during the Petrine epoch and the foundation in 1758 of the Russian Academy of the "three most noble arts." The article describes the uneven growth of the Academy in the course of two centuries, culminating in 1947 in the re-organization of the All-Russian Academy of Arts into the USSR Academy of Arts, which, according to its statutes, constitutes "the highest educational institution which serves to bring together the most outstanding figures in the field of fine arts." Kemenov's introduction outlines different stages of the Academy's struggle for the ideals of progressive realistic art. After the October Revolution many pupils from the Academy of Arts and Moscow School of Painting. Sculpture and Architecture strove to create a new Soviet art. In the tense setting of post-revolutionary years they continued the fight against anarcho-nihilistic Leftists and upheld the invaluable realistic principles of the country's highest art school.
Analyzing the great strides made by masters of Soviet multinational art, Kemenov shows the diversity of their methods and styles, vividly expressed in their works.
The book offers a wide selection of reproductions of works by Soviet painters, sculptors, draughtsmen, theatrical designers and applied artists, elected Full Members or Corresponding Members of the Academy of Arts during sessions in 1948, 1958, 1962, 1967, 1973 and 1978. The book akso includes a list of works reproduced.
