Posters, time, and family
Six decades of the Kudriashovs’ creative work
Kyiv’s gallery Mystets held a meeting with Yevhen, Klavdia and Anton Kudriashov, who had prepared the catalogue The Kudriashov Poster of the 1950s-2010s for print, whereas the works from the catalogue are on display in the gallery.
The older generation of the Kudriashovs, Yevhen and Klavdia, are classics of Soviet poster art. On the whole, the couple has created nearly 600 posters (at the moment the family collection comprises only half of this number, and the exhibit shows 170 works). Yevhen Kudriashov’s works are mainly satirical, exposing the vices of the Soviet society, including bureaucracy, the greed of the functionaries, alcoholism…
“I started to create political satire in the Khrushchev era, though my posters had been published since 1952,” Yevhen KUDRIASHOV told The Day, “Whereas the satire on foreign policy was accepted wonderfully, it was a way too hard to criticize the Soviet reality. You must know the famous plot with three heads in profile: Marx, Engels, and Lenin. I added Stalin there. The poster had a big printing run, and I was paid a high honorarium. By the way, I was much surprised when Spetspayok [Special Ration. – Ed.] was printed. I did not send to print some of my works, like my favorite on the [Communist. – Ed.] party lying in a coffin, as I understood that the Soviet authorities would not get such ‘humor,’ that is why that poster was shelved, waiting for a different time to come. My posters have taken part in the international exhibits in Korea, Cuba, and Mongolia. I received competition awards nearly 15 times, including three all-union ones, as well as the Republic Prize named after Vasyl Kasiian, who used to be my teacher. At the moment I am working with my grandson, and we have lots of plots. In my opinion, currently we have no poster as a phenomenon, only advertisement works, and I’m not into commerce. I will continue to work with the topic of bureaucracy, since though life continues and times change, the bureaucracy is still in full blossom.”
Klavdia Kudriashova’s posters dedicated to the friendship between nations used to adorn the buildings of Kyiv’s Central Post Office and conservatory, whereas the work It Is Not the War that We Are Raising Our Sons For was popular enough to be sold under the counter in the former USSR’s bookstores.
“My works call people to benevolence, joy, love, and motherly happiness,” Klavdia KUDRIASHOVA stressed, “They have freely passed all the instances, because they did not carry any political meaning. I have always received letters of gratefulness, which proved that people needed my creative work. Exhibits were organized by the publishing houses I worked with. I am presently working on poster restoration. I have also taken up portrait and still life painting.”
Currently, Yevhen and Klavdia’s grandson Anton keeps the ball rolling. He is a professional artist too, formerly he had specialized in painting and graphic art, but nearly 10 years ago he decided to revive the forgotten genre of creating posters.
“Since childhood I have been learning from my grandparents,” Anton KUDRIASHOV recalls, “My grandmother taught me to draw, and grandfather – to think creatively. I work mostly in the graphic technique, but I also use computer technologies. In the recent 20 years the social and political poster painting has nearly ceased to exist, though we have a great need for it nowadays because ‘servants of the people’ have still preserved their former vices, which are only becoming worse. Posters should expose them.”
According to Ostap Kovalchuk, an art expert, “Soviet-time posters are a significant artistic phenomenon. The exhibit shows that people with academic education can get involved in creating of posters. Currently, the brains of our spin doctors are so much crammed with American junk that the same sans serif as in the election ballot papers is used for promotion posters of political parties. The Soviet school shows modern managers, political scientists, and poster painters an example of advertising, specifically political advertising.”
Incidentally, the promotion of the Kudriashovs’ creative work will not limit itself to merely an exhibit in Kyiv. The plans include a tour via Ukraine’s oblast centers and maybe, some exhibits abroad. A catalogue of the artists’ family collection will be published. It will be distributed free of charge over libraries and educational establishments on art.
