The Great Provider
Arkady Plastov’s A Collective Farm Festival is an ideal portrayal of a farming collective. While this work lacks in its level of precise realism, the imagery more than compensates. A farming collective enjoys the bounty of the harvest, all thanks to their Soviet leader. Joseph Stalin’s portrait joyously watches over the celebration from a lofty position. In the foreground a young girl reaches for a basket overflowing with apples. Bright sunlight adds to the happiness of the occasion. Such depictions of happy, prosperous farmers and proletarian were a staple of Socialist Realist art.