Art designed to demonstrate Soviet power through sporting prowess is going on show in an exhibition in London this month.
A philanthropic institute in Moscow is lending 35 paintings, drawings and sculptures exploring how artists used sport to glorify Soviet ideology for a Sotheby’s show at the start of the UK-Russia Year of Culture 2014.
It will include depictions of gymnasts, wrestlers and rowers, by important painters such as Alexander Deyneka.
Soviet Art. Soviet Sport, sponsored by PromSvyazBank, is at Sotheby’s, New Bond Street, December 19 to 21, January 2 to 14, sothebys.com