However, in 1928, after a series of publications in the journal Revolution and Culture, edited by N. I. Bukharin, supported by the section of literature and art of the Communist Academy, a new aggravation of the ideological struggle in art began. Realistic traditions and easel art were opposed by new types of creativity (photography, design, cinema), and models of Western modernism were offered as a standard. This had consequences for Vkhutein (as the Academy of Arts was called in 1923). The directors were accused of restoring academism. The dissatisfaction of some teachers and students of the institute was supported by the art groups “Proletariat”, “Circle”, a group of P. N. Filonov, who opposed, among other things, any control in the development of culture in general and the art school in particular. Continue reading →