Mikhail O. Dlugach (Kyiv, Ukraine, 1893-1988, Moscow, Russia), Chudak (The Nut) (detail), 1927, Lithographic poster, 28 x 42 in., outside: 44 x 30 ½ x 1 ½ in., Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation Collection: Gift of Martin Muller. 2025.031.020.
Soviet Cinema: Mikhail Dlugach and 1920s Poster Design
In 1920s Moscow, poster artists created an exciting new graphic design language that is still relevant today. At the center of this art of persuasion was Ukrainian artist Mikhail O. Dlugach. Having arrived in Moscow in 1922, his work reflects one of the most critical periods of modern art and politics.
The decade that followed the 1917 Russian Revolution saw modern artists exuberantly, if briefly, enlisted to help reimagine society, before the ultimate governmental suppression. In this politically tense era, film poster design straddled the competing worlds of abstraction and realism while engaging the young art of film.
Timed to coincide with The Age of Anxiety: German Expressionism in Art and Film, this presentation offers a parallel world of Soviet poster art.
This exhibition celebrates San Francisco-based collector and gallerist Martin Muller’s recent donation of modern and contemporary art to AMFA. Just one area of his extensive gift, these Soviet-era posters highlight Muller’s commitment to collecting and offering rare glimpses of Eastern European art since 1980—a decade before the fall of the Soviet Union.
Sponsors
This exhibition is organized by the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.