Art & Art History
Department

Art and Exile: Nonconformist Art and the Russian Gulag

This work will establish the thematic and stylistic similarities and differences between artists from The Dodge Collection who experienced first hand institutional oppression during the Russian Gulag. Careful consideration of artists and their work reveal parallels like the act of looking, the Russian landscape, and brutality and death. These themes are present in this body of work because they are motivated by artists responding to a distinct Soviet experience, the Gulag. First hand knowledge of the Gulag inspires both social and personal artistic reflection. After working closely with works of art by a diverse group of Nonconformist artists in The Dodge Collection for several months, it became clear that there were parallels between works by different artists. An initial look at both the historical and art historical context will establish a framework for the discussion of individual artists. Biographies of each nonconformist artist demonstrate the process through which artists were arrested for their nonconformist bodies of work. An analysis of individual works will illustrate the stylistic and thematic connections that bond nonconformist artists living under the Russian Gulag system. While considering the similarities between artists, it is important to acknowledge that each artist captures the Russian Gulag with a unique stylistic identity.