Roman Shaposhnik's

I truly believe that the only meaningful way of experiencing history and culture is by looking at the everyday objects of that time and place. In fact a decorated household pot that my grandma used to have tells me more about her childhood than all of the history books combined. And it becomes especially important if the period or place you study is know to be a controversial one.

One such period I find fascinating, controversial and oh! so powerful artistically is the period of the late czarist Russia and early Soviet Union.

At that time (since there were no radio or television around and since the majority of the population was illiterate) the biggest means of communication used to be posters. They were everything to everyone -- news, entertainment and advertisement. To some extent they were Zeitgeist at its purest form.

To my sincerest delight this online Museum of Soviet posters offers a vast collection supplemented by an excellent timeline of events.

The site is in Cyrillic -- but for an art form aimed at an audience of late 1920s it really doesn't matter -- so lay back, get a cup of tea (with Lemon!) and flip through the pages. And if at the end of it you still feel hungry for a controversial rendition of the same subject go to the English version of the same site.