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. Art Springs Every once in a while we’re re minded how very little we know about the former Soviet Union, a country that once seemed threatening, cold, grim, and alien. The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center helps dispel some of our stereotypes with the world pre mier exhibition of the “Gary and Jane Loo Soviet Socialist Realism Collec tion.” The Loo’s collection presents impressive realistic and impression istic paintings, created between 1930 and 1980. Many of these paintings depict common, unadorned aspects of Soviet life, just as George Bellows and Robert Henri of the Ash Can School painted decidedly unromanticized depictions of life in New York City slums before World War I. One piece I particularly liked, “Spring Border Patrol Camp” by Sergei Babkov, presents a painterly, impressionistic scene: A soldier, stripped to the waist, stands and lights a cigarette while another soldier, clad in his green uniform head to foot, bends over a shovel and scoops dirt in an alley. New, green grass is sprout ing, but the trees and shrubs lining the alley are still bare. The alley leads to a cluster of modest buildings and a weath ered wooden gate, guarded by another sol dier. The artist didn’t attempt to make the subject patriotic or romantic. Yet the scene is delightful; luscious brush strokes cre ate an interplay of sunlit patches and shadows clearly reminiscent of the French Impressionists. The “Soviet Socialist Realism Collec tion” opens February 26 and continues through April 24. Don’t miss this opportu nity to look through the Iron Curtain at an unexpected beauty on the other side. ‘Patrice Rhoades-Baum Stunning Soviet realism on display at FAC.
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Magazine
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Tue, Mar 01, 1994
Page 41
Full Page
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USA 18 Dec 2025
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