Socialist realism
- noun
- /ˈsoʊʃəlɪst ˈriːəlɪzəm/
- Specialized
:
realismo socialista
- Cornwall examines Joyce's critical reception in Russia, including the Russian debates over modernism and socialist realism.
- Socialist realism and modernism
Examples
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Nineteen thirty-four was the same year that socialist realism was declared by the government as the official aesthetic.
Academic text (2000) -
Gradually, the demands for socialist realism were relaxed.
Academic text (1993) -
As such, socialist realism is placed outside history.
Academic text (2000) -
The historical emergence of socialist realism as an aesthetic model.
Academic text (2000) -
Cultural policy in the immediate postwar period was under direct Soviet influence, and the officially sanctioned style was socialist realism.
Academic text (2010) -
Polish artists, whose oeuvre was characterized by socialist realism, portrayed society in optimistic, socialist terms.
Academic text (2000) -
Poland has a distinctive history of poster art, moving from a Stalinist phase of socialist realism to the diverse styles of the later Polish School.
Academic text (2010) -
Many East German fairy-tale adaptations differ significantly from their literary precursors and bear the distinctive stamp of socialist realism.
Academic text (2017) -
After 1945, this gave way to Soviet influence and censorship, ushering in the artistic doctrine of "socialist realism," whose unsophisticated narrative style of propaganda sought to mold a "new, socialistic people."
Academic text (2010) -
The museum featured an exhibition dedicated to socialist realism, showcasing art that celebrated everyday life under communism.
How Political
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'socialist' (relating to socialism) and 'realism' (an art style depicting reality) can reasonably infer this refers to a kind of realistic art connected to socialist themes, so the basic sense is compositional. However, the specific historical and ideological meaning — an official Soviet artistic doctrine that glorifies communist values and everyday life — requires cultural knowledge and is not fully predictable from the parts, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Socialist realism began as an official style in Soviet countries where artists were told to make clear, realistic pictures of workers, farms and factories so people would see a good, hopeful life. The name joins Socialist (showing socialism) and realism (real-life pictures), and the works were meant to 'praise' the new society, so today the term means art that praises communist ideas and everyday life.