Online registration has closed. You are welcome to buy tickets at the door (or enter as a TMORA Member).
Join us for Preview Night at The Museum of Russian Art on Thursday, May 21. Be the first to experience Poster Art of the Soviet Era before it opens to the public.
Spend the evening in the galleries with live music by Twin Cities Hot Club, tea and curated sweets, and remarks from Curator Dr. Masha Zavialova. All galleries and TMORA Shop will be open for exploring.
Drawn from TMORA’s collection of Soviet-era posters, the exhibition highlights the dual role of the Soviet poster as both artistic expression and ideological tool. Soviet artists developed a bold, distinctive visual language designed to reach broad audiences, demonstrating how design was used to communicate messages and shape public perception.
Spanning the full Soviet era, the exhibition traces the development of poster art from experimental early works, to tighter, more formulaic imagery under Stalin; back to modernist aesthetics under Khrushchev; into a period of freeze under Brezhnev; and melting under Gorbachev.
Preview Night: Poster Art of the Soviet Era
6:00–8:00 PM, Doors open at 5:45 PM
Curator remarks at 6:30 PM
Tickets
$15 General Admission
TMORA Members: Free
About the Exhibition
Drawn from TMORA’s important collection of Soviet-era posters, the exhibition highlights the paradox of the Soviet poster: both breathtakingly artistic and unapologetically idealogical. Soviet artists used unique, bold, and instantly recognizable graphic language to reach a broad audience with politically correct messages. And as in many other national cultures, posters were active tools conveying ideologies and representing political/national identities. At the same time, poster art of the Soviet era was by no means rigid. TMORA’s collection is extensive enough to trace the visual development of the poster as an art form. The exhibition explores the shift from experimental early works to tight formulaic imagery under Stalin, back to modernist aesthetics under Khrushchev, then entering a freeze under Brezhnev, and completely melting under Gorbachev.
The Museum of Russian Art is grateful to the collectors who have donated poster works to the Museum, including Gwenn and Eivind Djupedal, Igor Galynker, Dan Biersdorf, Carol Sime, and other generous donors.
Poster Art of the Soviet Era will be on view in the Main Gallery May 22 – September 27, 2026.
