Gustav Klutsis (1895-1938) was a Latvian-born Soviet poster designer who started out as an avant-garde artist whose goal was to radically transform the spectator's viewing habits and then mutated into a agitprop supporter of the Bolshevik regime after participating in the October 1917 assault on the Winter Palace. He believed that the role of the artist was to communicate an unambiguous political message. His all-out endorsement of Lenin and Stalin did not however prevent his arrest and execution during the Great Terror of 1938. Below is a sampling of his output some of which might have been included in the chapter The Spirit of Socialism in That Line of Darkness: The Gothic from Lenin to bin Laden (Encompass Editions, 2013) had space permitted.
Gustav Klutsis |
Electrification of the Entire Country |
Moscow Athletic Competition 1928 |
Untitled |
We Will Return Our Coal Debt to the Country |
Young People to the Aeroplanes |
The Reality of our Program is Real People |
Russian Parade |
Fulfilled Plan Great Work |
Onward into the Third Year |
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