Monday, January 14, 2013

Soviet art for children

Did you know that next week (Monday, January 21st, 2013, to be precise) marks the 89th anniversary of Lenin's death?
Last fall I stumbled across the book shown above as well as a Soviet art book for children. The art book was called изобразительное искусство 1-3 (Fine Art 1-3) and it had been published in the late 1970s. I thought it would be interesting to share these pictures with you!
Translation:

Drawing about The Glory of the Soviet Army!

Every February 23th the Soviet people celebrate the birthday of the Soviet Army.

Look carefully at the drawing on this page, which will help you create a composition about The Glory of the Soviet Army! Pay attention to the design of the military equipment. It's best to sketch the design while looking at a toy.

Holiday greetings towards our army or the dates 1918-1982 may be added to the images of tanks, rockets, and planes. Write the words in print.

Translation

In the jolly days of May we greet the birthday of the Pioneer organization. Joyful pioneers walk through the city, songs are sung, flags flutter, and a million happy smiles sparkle. The pioneers have brightly colored flowers in their hands. The children lay the flowers at the monument of the great leader of the workers- V. I. Lenin. One more time the pledge to follow Lenin's commandments will be heard, the pledge to continue the work of our fathers.

Make a drawing about the "Pioneers".

Translation:

Holiday Street

The day is great, the day is miraculous-
A joyful holiday in November!
Sun, music, and songs
[O November] You gave to the children.

Banners bloom above the country,
They blaze like holiday silk.
We march together in a column,
We are walking in a parade.

Translation:

Remember what you saw during the October Revolution holiday.
How were the streets, squares, homes decorated?
What were the demonstrators carrying?
Draw how the children observed the passing laborers. First, sketch the street, with its children holding little flags and balloons. On the buildings, draw holiday decorations- red flags, stars, banners...



Also, across the city in another children's classroom, I found this book:
I suppose these may be odd pictures to share with you, but I like them. Like I wrote in Gone but Not Forgotten, the past is all around us in Ukraine. People in America move on so quickly- it's easy to brush history off with a quick "that was so before my time, ugh"- but here people pass the memories to the next generation and children are still surrounded by reminders of what happened a long, long time ago.

2 comments:

  1. We miss so much in our little embassy bubble here in Kiev. Thank you for sharing.

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  2. And thank you for reading :) Being in the embassy bubble must provide some interesting stories of its own, right? It sure sounds glamourous, at least!

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