★The cutting-edge art and photography book - Soviet Monumental Art by Arseny Kotov, documentary photographer and urban explorer.
★With eight larger parts (Space, Labor, Science, Sports, Society, Lenin, Education/Raising Children, War, Peace, and Revolution) and two hundred photos, this is a guide to Soviet monumental art (high relief mosaic, metal bass relief, stained glass artwork, drawings, sgraffito, and frescos) which reflects the spirit of the era and obviously refers to Ancient Greek motifs.
★The photographs are completed with Kotov’s texts on the popular phrases and slogans on the sights, the meaning behind this art, some historical facts about the Soviet lifestyle.

Arseny Kotov is a documentary photographer of Soviet monumental art of the 20th century. For more than eight years he has traveled throughout Russia and the post-Soviet republics in search of unusual objects of architecture, once inhabited but now abandoned places, in order to see and capture with his own eyes the traces of that distant and bygone era, that great country stretching from the northern icy seas to the hot deserts of mysterious Central Asia, from the Baltic cities to the endless taiga of the Far East.
This book collects his photographs of Soviet monumental art - mosaics, drawings, sgraffito, stained glass and frescoes, which often adorned buildings during Soviet times. Today this kind of art is in decline, preserved only in church decorations, and Soviet-era monumental works of art are deteriorating without proper care and are gradually disappearing from the streets of our cities. The book shows numerous examples of how and why certain themes and subjects became predominant in Soviet monumental art, demonstrates the most outstanding examples of Soviet muralists. The book is for a wide range of readers.

This is an outstanding photography book of the Soviet monumental art. Divided into eight parts (Space, Labor, Science, Sports, Society, Lenin, Education/Raising Children, War, Peace, and Revolution, ) the book features high relief mosaic, metal bass relief, stained glass artwork, drawings, sgraffito, and frescos which reflected the spirit of the era and obviously refer to Ancient Greek motifs and Greek heroes. Two hundred photos of stellas, circuses, wedding palaces, cinemas, bust and full figure sculptures of Vladimir Lenin, apartment buildings are taken in a way showing the contrast between the artistic style and the passing strangers, modern pictures or air conditioners hanging on brick walls, or winter-worn yards.
The author explores popular phrases and slogans on the sights (The world, unite!, We forge a bright future for the people; We forge a bright future for the homeland; Peace to the world; Learn, learn, and learn; Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the entire country; Always prepared, etc.)
Kotov takes pictures inside and outside buildings. These are all perfectly arranged photographs completed with Kotov’s texts on what these phrases and slogans were devoted to, some moments and facts from Soviet history (e.g. Soviet monumental art began to proactively develop after WW2, why sport popularization was promoted, and a brief introduction to the meaning (e.g. many paintings show a peaceful life of people of both genders, various professions, nationalities, united with common aspirations and ideals; the societal metaphor of a boat packed with different people floating down the river of life, etc.)
Unfortunately, every year, hundreds of artworks are lost to time, so this Kotov’s photography book perpetuates this part of the world’s art treasure.