NEW IN PAPERBACK:
THE TOTAL ART OF STALINISM: AVANT-GARDE, AESTHETIC DICTATORSHIP, AND BEYOND
By BORIS GROYS
Published: 29TH AUGUST 2011
--------------------------------
“This is not just a book, but an event ... THE TOTAL ART OF STALINISM is an intellectual landmark.”– ART BULLETIN
--------------------------------
From the ruins of communism, Boris Groys emerges to provoke our interest in the aesthetic goals pursued with such catastrophic consequences by its founders. Looking at the art and practices of key Soviet artists such as Vasily Kandinsky, Kasimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin, Groys traces the development of Soviet art under Stalin, from the Russian avant-garde to socialist realism, placing these movements in global and historical context and challenging widely-held assumptions.
Like modernists elsewhere, the totalitarian artists and theorists of the USSR longed for an art that could transform the world that others sought only to depict. The revolutionaries of 1917 promised to create a society that was not only more just and more economically stable but also more beautiful. They intended that the entire life of the nation be completely subordinate to Communist Party leaders commissioned to regulate, harmonize and create a single “artistic” whole out of even the most mundane aspects of existence.
What were the origins of this idea? And what were its artistic and literary ramifications? In addressing these issues, Groys questions the view that socialist realism was an “art for the masses.” In this new edition for Verso, the author revisits the debate that the book has stimulated since its first publication.
---------------------------------
Further praise for THE TOTAL ART OF STALINISM:
“Art and the celebration of power all too often coincide, and the controversial message here is that artists, for all their insights into the human condition, can make a hash of society as completely as the most cynical of politicians.”– BOSTON GLOBE
Praise for THE COMMUNIST POSTSCRIPT:
“Groys has claimed a defining role in the reception of the Russian avant-garde … THE COMMUNIST POSTSCRIPT presents Groys’s attempt to advocate the communist idea against its own historic assumptions.”– RADICAL PHILOSOPHY
“A timely intervention in present debates about the legacy of communism [and] a provocative addition to Groys’ brilliantly paradoxical body of work.”– ART REVIEW
Praise for ART POWER:
“Persuasive…provocative…By probing unacknowledged, repressed, or otherwise unexamined relationships that hover in the background of art-world conversation, ART POWER recombines categories, reconfigures assumptions, and, in the end, reimagines what art writing can be.” – BOOKFORUM
"The range of topics canvassed in Art Power is impressive. ... All of these subjects have been comprehensively treated elsewhere, but rarely with Groys' penetrating eye for the unexpected upshot of such developments." – FRIEZE
"This magisterial overview situates contemporary art--its aesthetic strategies, institutions and drives--within the deeper context of the Modernist revolution, urbanism, new technologies, and the post communist era. Groys' combines revelatory analysis with philosophical questions that go to the heart of cultural production today." – IWONA BLAZWICK, DIRECTOR, WHITECHAPEL GALLERY
Praise for BORIS GROYS
“One of the most astute commentators on the art scene today.” – NEW LEFT REVIEW
---------------------------------
BORIS GROYS is Professor of Aesthetics, Art History, and Media Theory at the Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe, and since 2005, the Global Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Science, NYU. He has published numerous books including ILYA KABAKOV, THE MAN WHO FLEW INTO SPACE FROM HIS APARTMENT, ART POWER, and THE COMMUNIST POSTSCRIPT.
---------------------------------
ISBN: 978 1 84467 707 8 / $19.95 / £9.99 / $25.00 / Paperback / 144 pages
-----------------------------------
For more information about THE TOTAL ART OF STALINISM, or to buy the book visit:
http://www.versobooks.com/books/973-the-total-art-of-stalinism
---------------------------------
Academics can request an inspection copy. For further information please go to: http://www.versobooks.com/pg/desk-copies
---------------------------------
Visit Verso’s website for information on our upcoming events, new reviews and publications and special offers: http://www.versobooks.com
Become a fan of Verso on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Verso-Books/205847279448577
And get updates on Twitter too!
http://twitter.com/VersoBooks
|