3 ms·

Check out yugoslav dinar banknotes from 1955 onwards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Yugoslav_dinar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_

Check out yugoslav dinar banknotes from 1955 onwards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Yugoslav_dinar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Yugoslav_dinar for great examples of socialist realism.

lionhearted 16y ago
Socialism realism is a bit of doublespeak, though. Here's Wikipedia: > Socialist realism held that successful art depicts and glorifies the proletariat's struggle toward socialist progress. The Statute of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1934 stated that socialist realism "is the basic method of Soviet literature and literary criticism. It demands of the artist the truthful, historically concrete representation of reality in its revolutionary development. Moreover, the truthfulness and historical concreteness of the artistic representation of reality must be linked with the task of ideological transformation and education of workers in the spirit of socialism." Read that twice if you missed it - it must be truthful, and also must take the task of ideological transformation. That is, propaganda. "Socialist idealist" might be a friendly way of describing that style of art, or "socialist propaganda" would be a less friendly way. But either way would be far more accurate than socialist realist. As someone whose spent lots of time around the world, the socialist countries have had absolutely terrible taste outside of a rare few well-done landmarks. Soviet housing in Eastern Europe is still brutal and cold and spiritually oppressive, and the older people there simply don't smile and look proud like you see on the banknotes. Actual realism in art positions itself against romanticism. The socialist propaganda art is highly romanticized. The name's very much an Orwellian-style misnomer that hasn't been appropriately discarded yet.
- Keyframe 16y ago
  Maybe, you seem to know that better than I do. I remember it being described during 80s as socialist realism. For example, this note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1000din-1963.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1000din-1963.jpg depicts this guy here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alija_Sirotanovi%C4%87 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alija_Sirotanovi%C4%87 Guy won the international miners contest where he shoveled 'with ease' 25kgs in one go and similar mythic stories behind it. And every single note had a similar story behind it that furthered the myth of "workers in the spirit of socialism".
  - acqq 16y ago
    > And every single note had a similar story behind it that furthered the myth of "workers in the spirit of socialism" In Yugoslavia AFAIK the only note in that period with the real story is the one you've mentioned (but the other person was depicted in that older note). For others, citation needed, as the Wikipedia article is very specific. Old 1000 note "Arif Heralić" then some monuments or the most famous people, or generic faces, without real stories.
  - pero 16y ago
    'depicts this guy here' No it doesn't, as per--very explicitly--the second link.

lionhearted 16y ago

Socialism realism is a bit of doublespeak, though. Here's Wikipedia: > Socialist realism held that successful art depicts and glorifies the proletariat's struggle toward socialist progress. The Statute of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1934 stated that socialist realism "is the basic method of Soviet literature and literary criticism. It demands of the artist the truthful, historically concrete representation of reality in its revolutionary development. Moreover, the truthfulness and historical concreteness of the artistic representation of reality must be linked with the task of ideological transformation and education of workers in the spirit of socialism." Read that twice if you missed it - it must be truthful, and also must take the task of ideological transformation. That is, propaganda. "Socialist idealist" might be a friendly way of describing that style of art, or "socialist propaganda" would be a less friendly way. But either way would be far more accurate than socialist realist. As someone whose spent lots of time around the world, the socialist countries have had absolutely terrible taste outside of a rare few well-done landmarks. Soviet housing in Eastern Europe is still brutal and cold and spiritually oppressive, and the older people there simply don't smile and look proud like you see on the banknotes. Actual realism in art positions itself against romanticism. The socialist propaganda art is highly romanticized. The name's very much an Orwellian-style misnomer that hasn't been appropriately discarded yet.

Keyframe 16y ago
Maybe, you seem to know that better than I do. I remember it being described during 80s as socialist realism. For example, this note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1000din-1963.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1000din-1963.jpg depicts this guy here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alija_Sirotanovi%C4%87 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alija_Sirotanovi%C4%87 Guy won the international miners contest where he shoveled 'with ease' 25kgs in one go and similar mythic stories behind it. And every single note had a similar story behind it that furthered the myth of "workers in the spirit of socialism".
- acqq 16y ago
  > And every single note had a similar story behind it that furthered the myth of "workers in the spirit of socialism" In Yugoslavia AFAIK the only note in that period with the real story is the one you've mentioned (but the other person was depicted in that older note). For others, citation needed, as the Wikipedia article is very specific. Old 1000 note "Arif Heralić" then some monuments or the most famous people, or generic faces, without real stories.
- pero 16y ago
  'depicts this guy here' No it doesn't, as per--very explicitly--the second link.