David Tenner
2017-09-02 05:42:38 UTC
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This is Mikhail G. Sokolov's painting of Lenin's arrival at the Finland
Station in 1917. It was painted two decades later--so, not surprisingly,
someone is portrayed who was never on the train. Your challenge is to make
this painting accurate. (In other words, Stalin really does join Lenin in
exile and really does return with him on the "sealed train" to the Finland
Station...)
A thought that occurs to me about Sokolov's painting: Walter Lippmann wrote
in *A Preface to Morals* about the conventions a religious artist in the
Middle Ages was required to observe:
"Having been given his subject matter and his theme, he was bound further by
strict conventions as to how sacred subjects were to be depicted. Jesus on
the Cross had to be shown with his mother on the right and St. John on the
left. The centurion pierced his left side. His nimbus contained a cross, as
the mark of divinity, whereas the saints had the nimbus without a cross.
Only God, the angels, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles could be represented
with bare feet; it was heretical to depict the Virgin or the Saints with
bare feet. The purpose of these conventions was to help the spectator
identify the figures in the picture. Thus St. Peter was given a short beard
and a tonsure; St. Paul was bald and had a long beard. It is possible that
these conventions, which were immensely intricate, were actually codified
in manuals which were passed on from master to apprentice in the
workshops."
https://books.google.com/books?id=gfc7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA99
Might it not be possible to write an analogous manual for Soviet "socialist
realist" artists under Stalin dealing with the iconography of Lenin and
Stalin? Maybe there was even a standard angle at which Lenin held his famous
cap. If Lenin is pictured with other Bolsheviks, Stalin must be by far the
most prominent of the "others" (even those who died in good repute could
only be portrayed as distinctly secondary figures) and must clearly be shown
as his successor. As Catherine Merridale writes in *Lenin on the Train*, p.
268:
"Apart from Lenin himself, only one character has been allowed to look out
of the picture in full face. His gaze bores out of the dark train...With no
regard for awkward facts, Sokolov has placed Stalin among the illustrious
passengers. Indeed, although the man was never in Lenin's carriage at all,
Sokolov has put Stalin one step above the late leader, suggesting that he
could be a mentor or chaperone...A mere glance at the picture is enough to
show that one day the bouquets and glinting steel will be for Stalin,
rightfully. The succession is direct and utterly secure."
https://books.google.com/books?id=H9klDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA268
This is Mikhail G. Sokolov's painting of Lenin's arrival at the Finland
Station in 1917. It was painted two decades later--so, not surprisingly,
someone is portrayed who was never on the train. Your challenge is to make
this painting accurate. (In other words, Stalin really does join Lenin in
exile and really does return with him on the "sealed train" to the Finland
Station...)
A thought that occurs to me about Sokolov's painting: Walter Lippmann wrote
in *A Preface to Morals* about the conventions a religious artist in the
Middle Ages was required to observe:
"Having been given his subject matter and his theme, he was bound further by
strict conventions as to how sacred subjects were to be depicted. Jesus on
the Cross had to be shown with his mother on the right and St. John on the
left. The centurion pierced his left side. His nimbus contained a cross, as
the mark of divinity, whereas the saints had the nimbus without a cross.
Only God, the angels, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles could be represented
with bare feet; it was heretical to depict the Virgin or the Saints with
bare feet. The purpose of these conventions was to help the spectator
identify the figures in the picture. Thus St. Peter was given a short beard
and a tonsure; St. Paul was bald and had a long beard. It is possible that
these conventions, which were immensely intricate, were actually codified
in manuals which were passed on from master to apprentice in the
workshops."
https://books.google.com/books?id=gfc7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA99
Might it not be possible to write an analogous manual for Soviet "socialist
realist" artists under Stalin dealing with the iconography of Lenin and
Stalin? Maybe there was even a standard angle at which Lenin held his famous
cap. If Lenin is pictured with other Bolsheviks, Stalin must be by far the
most prominent of the "others" (even those who died in good repute could
only be portrayed as distinctly secondary figures) and must clearly be shown
as his successor. As Catherine Merridale writes in *Lenin on the Train*, p.
268:
"Apart from Lenin himself, only one character has been allowed to look out
of the picture in full face. His gaze bores out of the dark train...With no
regard for awkward facts, Sokolov has placed Stalin among the illustrious
passengers. Indeed, although the man was never in Lenin's carriage at all,
Sokolov has put Stalin one step above the late leader, suggesting that he
could be a mentor or chaperone...A mere glance at the picture is enough to
show that one day the bouquets and glinting steel will be for Stalin,
rightfully. The succession is direct and utterly secure."
https://books.google.com/books?id=H9klDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA268
--
David Tenner
***@ameritech.net
David Tenner
***@ameritech.net