The Khrushchev Thaw

A pretentious game about the relationship between artistic expression and political propaganda.

"I cannot value the works of expressionism, futurism, cubism, and other isms as the highest expressions of artistic genius. I don't understand them. They give me no pleasure... Yes, dear Clara, we two are old. We must be satisfied with remaining young for a little longer in the revolution. We don't understand the new art any more, we just limp behind it... But our opinion on art is not important. Nor is it important what art gives to a few hundreds or even thousands of a population as great as ours. Art belongs to the people." - Vladimir Lenin, c. 1920

"Dmitrii Stepanovich Polianskii told me a couple of days ago that when his daughter got married, she was given a picture of what was supposed to be a lemon. It consisted of some messy yellow lines which looked, if you will excuse me, as though some child had done his business on the canvas when his mother was away and then spread it around with his hands... As long as I am president of the Council of Ministers, we are going to support a genuine art. We aren't going to give a kopeck for pictures painted by jackasses. History can be our judge. For the time being history has put us at the head of this state, and we have to answer for everything that goes on in it. Therefore we are going to maintain a strict policy in art... when I was in England, I reached an understanding with [Anthony] Eden. He showed me a picture by a contemporary abstractionist and asked me how I liked it. I said I didn't understand it. He said he didn't understand it either, and asked me what I thought of Picasso. I said I didn't understand Picasso, and Eden said he couldn't understand Picasso either." - Nikita Khrushchev, 1962