From the series "Journey into the Heart of the Country" [lace curtain and poster of Lenin]

Vladimir Filonov’s Untitled was included in the exhibition "Changing Reality: Contemporary Soviet Photography" held at the Corcoran Gallery in 1991. Filonov, contributed seven black and white works of Russian peasants in their home. He also photographed the proletariat houses themselves, illustrating contemporary Soviet life, a hallmark of his photography. The images he provided came from his series “Journey into the Heart of the Country”, specifically depicting the village of Pogoreloye as it appeared in 1989. In this photograph, realities of village life echo throughout the composition. Peeling wallpaper contrasts with the gossamer-like curtain above a translucent window. Below two black hooks hangs a tattered poster of Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), the Russian revolutionary and founder of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Lenin served as head of state from 1917 to 1924 and Soviets favorably looked back on his time in office as the recent overthrow of the Tsar was seen as an end of government corruption. The poster recalls this earlier time of optimism in the Soviet Union. Overall, the image exudes a feeling of abandonment and the deterioration of the home that seems to coincide with the gradual collapse of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party.

Leah Bendavid-Val (Author), Changing Reality: Recent Soviet Photography (Exh. cat.), Starwood Publishing, Inc., Washington, D.C., 1991, p. 112

Tyler Cann (Editor) and Drew Sawyer (Editor), Red Horizon: Contemporary Art and Photography in the USSR and Russia, 1960-2010 (Exh. cat.), Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, 2017

Corcoran Gallery of Art Registrar's Office Records, 1869-2013 (COR RG 5.1), Special Collections Research Center, Gelman Library, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 1869-2013, Box 52, Folder 9 "Changing Reality: Recent Soviet Photography, 1991 May 11-July 17"

HOME: Selections from the Corcoran Study Collection, Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, Washington DC, November 14, 2019 - March 13, 2020

Changing Reality: Recent Soviet Photography, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, May 11-July 7, 1991; Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Nashville, TN, September 19-November 1, 1992; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 28-May 9, 1993; Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA, January-February 1994; Haverford College, Haverford, PA, March-May 1994