Featured SOVIET PROPAGANDA COMPOSITION

Hello everybody,

Just would like to show a unique propaganda composition FRIENDSHIP. I assume this piece was made for the 1957 Youth Festival in Moscow. It's a museum level piece, the highest quality. Three girls - Russian, Indian, and Chinese. What is especially interesting - how smart propaganda works. The Russian/Soviet girl is the tallest, then comes Indian girl, then comes Chinese girl. Very clearly shows political preferences at that time.
The piece was made at the Gorodnitsa porcelain factory, height 30 cm.

 

Very canny. Lovely group, thank you for showing us.

 

Cool! why do you think it's for the Youth Festival?

 

Also, I think the girl is Ukrainian, for her headdress

 

The composition demonstrates how the people of the USSR live in peace and strive for friendship with other nations. The girls are happy and, obviously, they are on friendly terms. Assume that it had to be shown to a lot of people during some big international event. Also, I found out that another title for this composition is FESTIVAL FRIENDSHIP. The biggest international event at that period was Youth Festival of 1957 (some sites give the period of its production between 1957-1960)
As for your second comment, the girl cannot be Ukrainian as Ukraine was an outsider on the political map of the Soviet Union and was always suppressed by the "elder brother", that is Russia. So, Ukrainian girl could not represent the Soviet Union at the big international forum.

 

Yes, if the second title was the Festival Friendship, that sounds logical, as it was one of watershed international events at that time. Congratulations on such a finding.

The headdress is surely Ukrainian.

As for your comment about Ukraine as "outsider" in the 1960s. I would consider that the year 1957 was the year of the height of Nikita Khruschev's power (just one year after he denounced the cult of Stalin). And yes, Khruschev was Ukrainian. The Gorodnitsa porcelain factory was based in Zhytomir oblast of Ukraine.

And that's from a different (Polonsk) factory: the title is "Ukrianian girl"

 

While I agree on the traditional headdress of Ukraine being a flower crown and of Russia being the kokoshnik diadem, the flower garland on Natasha's girl may not be intended as a Ukrainian one. The rest of the costume looks very modified and pretty general Slavic, not traditional.
Here is just a thought. On old Nazi photographs of BDM girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel, the female equivalent of H. Youth) on summercamp, you often see the girls wearing flower garlands with contemporary takes on the traditional German dirndl dress. It was part of the propaganda to emphasize how happy and carefree it all was.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was a similar representation, just a different totalitarian state.

 

Might be, but here is another one for comparison (didn't find info on the factory of this one).

 

Thanks for your comment Any Jewelry. I agreee that the girl's costume is modified and pretty general. Probably, it's a collective image of a Soviet/Russian girl.

April07, I have this figurine. The title is Russian dance. The girl is in typical Russian sarafan though she has a wreath on her head. The figurine was made at Artel "Ceramic", Polonne in 1950s

 

So it was also made in Ukraine, in Polonne? How curious. I am also finding it in the online auctions with the title "Ukrainian in a sarafan dress".
Anyway, I will rather leave this topic to the porcelain propaganda experts in this thread

 

very cute....I got a bunch of these kinds of figures...

 

Ah, a fellow ecclectic collector!
Totally understand, they are lovely and very charming.