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Chapter 4. Soviet socialist su(pe)rrealism for children

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Abstract

This chapter posits a kind of Soviet Surrealism, or “su(pe)rrealism”, in photo-illustrated Soviet children’s literature of the interwar period. The techniques of manipulating photo-images that carried out the montage in a single frame were widely employed in photo-illustrated children’s books published in the late 1930s. Unlike earlier Soviet children’s books, which mostly employed photography toward “capturing real life” and promoting mass education, these late-1930s photobooks conjured a fairy-tale wonderland in which reality is somewhat bracketed and objects are given visible agency. Instead of the “baring of the device” typical of the 1920s, later graphic artists sought to hide the device in order to increase the naturalistic effect of photo-montaged representations. These photographic “deformations,” effected by retouching and manipulations of scale, rendered the world of objects – the so-called “real” world surrounding children – subtly uncanny, subject to distortion and, thus, distinctively surrealist. This turn toward the surreal seems curiously at odds yet consonant with the totalizing culture of Stalinism – hence our suggestion of “super-real” as an alternative designation.

Abstract

This chapter posits a kind of Soviet Surrealism, or “su(pe)rrealism”, in photo-illustrated Soviet children’s literature of the interwar period. The techniques of manipulating photo-images that carried out the montage in a single frame were widely employed in photo-illustrated children’s books published in the late 1930s. Unlike earlier Soviet children’s books, which mostly employed photography toward “capturing real life” and promoting mass education, these late-1930s photobooks conjured a fairy-tale wonderland in which reality is somewhat bracketed and objects are given visible agency. Instead of the “baring of the device” typical of the 1920s, later graphic artists sought to hide the device in order to increase the naturalistic effect of photo-montaged representations. These photographic “deformations,” effected by retouching and manipulations of scale, rendered the world of objects – the so-called “real” world surrounding children – subtly uncanny, subject to distortion and, thus, distinctively surrealist. This turn toward the surreal seems curiously at odds yet consonant with the totalizing culture of Stalinism – hence our suggestion of “super-real” as an alternative designation.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of figures vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part 1. Early photobooks
  6. Chapter 1. Translating living pictures 22
  7. Chapter 2. Photographing Chinese childhood 43
  8. Chapter 3. As ‘objectively’ as possible. On truth and objectivity in photographic early-concept books 67
  9. Part 2. The impact of vanguard movements
  10. Chapter 4. Soviet socialist su(pe)rrealism for children 94
  11. Chapter 5. From Halley’s Comet to the Scout Kwapiszon 123
  12. Chapter 6. “A successful photograph is worth as much as a story” 144
  13. Part 3. Female pioneers of photography
  14. Chapter 7. From the “Children of all Lands Stories” to the “Enfants du monde” collection 170
  15. Chapter 8. In and out of focus 189
  16. Chapter 9. Politics, art, and pedagogy in Edith Tudor-Hart’s photographs of children 210
  17. Part 4. The politics of childhood
  18. Chapter 10. Portrait of the child as a socialist 232
  19. Chapter 11. “Days of Sun, Playing, and Dreams” 254
  20. Chapter 12. The mirror and multiplicity 274
  21. About the editors and contributors 297
  22. Subject index 301
  23. Name index 305
Photography in Children's Literature
This chapter is in the book Photography in Children's Literature
https://doi.org/10.1075/clcc.17.04bos

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of figures vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part 1. Early photobooks
  6. Chapter 1. Translating living pictures 22
  7. Chapter 2. Photographing Chinese childhood 43
  8. Chapter 3. As ‘objectively’ as possible. On truth and objectivity in photographic early-concept books 67
  9. Part 2. The impact of vanguard movements
  10. Chapter 4. Soviet socialist su(pe)rrealism for children 94
  11. Chapter 5. From Halley’s Comet to the Scout Kwapiszon 123
  12. Chapter 6. “A successful photograph is worth as much as a story” 144
  13. Part 3. Female pioneers of photography
  14. Chapter 7. From the “Children of all Lands Stories” to the “Enfants du monde” collection 170
  15. Chapter 8. In and out of focus 189
  16. Chapter 9. Politics, art, and pedagogy in Edith Tudor-Hart’s photographs of children 210
  17. Part 4. The politics of childhood
  18. Chapter 10. Portrait of the child as a socialist 232
  19. Chapter 11. “Days of Sun, Playing, and Dreams” 254
  20. Chapter 12. The mirror and multiplicity 274
  21. About the editors and contributors 297
  22. Subject index 301
  23. Name index 305
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