Soviet New Year cards Santa Claus and Snow Maiden. Soviet postcards with Santa Claus
Last weeks Before the New Year, it's time to stock up on postcards and other nice little things as gifts for friends and family. In anticipation of the holiday, I made another excursion into history and prepared a review of the most original New Year's cards of the Soviet era.
A little background
In 1918 Soviet authority resolutely abandoned greeting cards, declaring them “a relic of the bourgeois past.” Not only Christmas, but also New Year has ceased to be considered a holiday. Of course, the latter continued to be celebrated - quietly and at home, without decorated Christmas trees, chimes or illustrated cards. The turning point was the Great Patriotic War. Exact date The “rehabilitation” of the New Year’s card is unknown for certain: some sources point to 1942, others to 1944. The party leadership came to its senses when Soviet soldiers began sending colorful European-style greeting cards to their families. A decree was issued to launch the production of “ideologically consistent” postcards.For example, Santa Claus during the war was generous with gifts, and also... harsh and merciless towards his enemies.
This is how an unknown artist depicted the New Year of 1943.
Already in the 1950s, mass production of Soviet New Year cards was established. The first to see the world were postcard photographs, supplemented with appropriate inscriptions. The range of characters was then limited to beautiful Komsomol athletes...
Cheerful, chubby-cheeked little ones...
And ordinary Soviet workers against the backdrop of the Kremlin.
In the 1960s, the production of Soviet postcards rose to the level of an art in which unexpected diversity reigned. visual styles and methods. Tired of drawing monotonous propaganda posters, the artists, as they say, had a blast.
It started with the return of the classic duet Father Frost + Snow Maiden.
Soon a fashion for cheerful animals appeared. The most recognizable were the numerous scenes with the participation of eared and tailed animals, drawn Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin.
Plots from Russian folk tales were also used for postcards.
Not without the influence of current slogans of the time - from the development of production and sports achievements to the conquest of space.
Bragintsev sent Santa Claus to the construction site.
A. Laptev appointed a bunny on skis as a postman.
Chetverikov depicted the New Year's hockey match with referee Frost.
New Year in Space
But the main theme was still the discovery of the world of stars and distant planets. Space often became the dominant plot of the image.
By introducing elements of fantasy into their works, illustrators expressed their wildest dreams of a bright future and the conquest of the Universe.
Fairytale and cosmic motifs on a New Year's card Soviet artist Bokareva, 1981
Adrianov and completely removes the ruddy old man, leaving his granddaughter in the company of the gallant space conqueror.
But postcards from the previous period, which can be seen in, deserve special attention.
Original postcards with Santa Claus from the Soviet period
A little background
In 1918, the Soviet government decisively abandoned greeting cards, declaring them “a relic of the bourgeois past.” Not only Christmas, but also New Year has ceased to be considered a holiday. Of course, the latter continued to be celebrated - quietly and at home, without decorated Christmas trees, chimes or illustrated cards. The turning point was the Great Patriotic War.
The exact date of the “rehabilitation” of the New Year’s card is not known for certain: some sources point to 1942, others to 1944. The party leadership came to its senses when Soviet soldiers began sending colorful European-style greeting cards to their families. A decree was issued to launch the production of “ideologically consistent” postcards.
For example, Santa Claus during the war was generous with gifts, and also... harsh and merciless towards his enemies.
This is how an unknown artist depicted the New Year of 1943.
Soviet New Year cards of the post-war decade
Already in the 1950s, mass production of Soviet New Year cards was established. The first to see the world were postcard photographs, supplemented with appropriate inscriptions. The range of characters was then limited to beautiful Komsomol athletes...
...cheerful, chubby-cheeked toddlers...
... and ordinary Soviet workers against the backdrop of the Kremlin.
In the 1960s, the production of Soviet postcards rose to the level of an art form, in which an unexpected variety of pictorial styles and techniques reigned. Tired of drawing monotonous propaganda posters, the artists, as they say, had a blast.
It started with the return of the classic duet Father Frost + Snow Maiden.
Soon a fashion for cheerful animals appeared. The most recognizable were the numerous scenes with the participation of eared and tailed animals, drawn by Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin.
Plots from Russian folk tales were also used for postcards.
Not without the influence of current slogans of the time - from the development of production and sports achievements to the conquest of space.
Bragintsev sent Santa Claus to the construction site.
A. Laptev appointed a bunny on skis as a postman.
Chetverikov portrayed the New Year's hockey match with referee Moroz.
New Year in Space
But the main theme was still the discovery of the world of stars and distant planets. Space often became the dominant plot of the image.
By introducing elements of fantasy into their works, illustrators expressed their wildest dreams of a bright future and the conquest of the Universe.
New Year cards Soviet times is a whole culture that reflects the importance of certain events that took place in the country at a certain time. Moreover, the traditional hero, who invariably appears on every postcard, was Santa Claus.
Although the story began not even with Santa Claus, but with the holiday itself - the New Year. No matter how surprising it may sound, the usual New Year attributes returned to the country only after October revolution. Until this time, holiday trees were strictly prohibited by the Holy Synod, which called them “a German, enemy idea that is alien to the Russian Orthodox people.”
At the very beginning of their reign, the Bolsheviks reacted quite adequately to everything “New Year’s”. There is even a painting of Lenin at a children's New Year's party.
However, already in 1926, the government of the soviets officially banned the organization of “so-called Christmas holidays” in the homes of individual citizens and in Soviet institutions, which allegedly carried the “anti-Soviet legacy of the damned past.”
But simple people continued to celebrate New Year secretly. And even Stalin could not change anything. As a result, the party leadership was forced to “recognize” the holiday, having first given it a “socialist coloring.” home Christmas tree The Soviet Union first appeared in Moscow in December 1937.
New Year's cards from that period with Santa Claus have not reached us, most likely they simply did not exist. But postcards from the times of the Great Patriotic War were sometimes simply amazing with their propaganda coloring. In some of them, Santa Claus was hurrying to the holiday with a bag of gifts and a machine gun in his hands.
Postcards from the sixties are no less creative. After Gagarin's triumphant flight main theme space is becoming available in the country. And so, on every postcard, Santa Claus joyfully greets the astronauts with a watch in his hand. And some pictures show grandfather himself in space.
The main aspirations of the era were invested in everyone’s favorite look Santa Claus. And when new areas were being built en masse in the USSR, our constant hero from the postcard was carrying a bag of gifts to the new buildings.
And, for example, before 1980 Olympics on many postcards he is depicted with an Olympic bear, soccer balls and other paraphernalia.
Of course, since the 50s, many New Year cards have been issued with the usual image of Santa Claus. However, those that are directly related to the era are of the greatest interest.
And after some time, the industry produced a wide range of postcards, pleasantly pleasing to the eye in the windows of newsstands filled with traditionally discreet printed products.
And even though the quality of printing and the brightness of the colors of Soviet postcards were inferior to imported ones, these shortcomings were made up for by the originality of the subjects and the high professionalism of the artists.
The real heyday of the Soviet New Year's card came in the 60s. The number of subjects has increased: motives such as space exploration and the fight for peace appear. Winter landscapes were crowned with wishes: “May the New Year bring success in sports!”
There was a variegated variety of styles and methods in the creation of postcards. Although, of course, it could not do without interweaving the content of newspaper editorials into the New Year's theme.
As the famous collector Evgeny Ivanov jokingly notes, on the postcards “the Soviet Father Frost actively participates in social and industrial life Soviet people: he is a railway worker at BAM, flies into space, melts metal, works on a computer, delivers mail, etc.
His hands are constantly busy with work - perhaps that’s why Santa Claus carries a bag of gifts much less often...” By the way, E. Ivanov’s book “New Year and Christmas in Postcards,” which seriously analyzes the plots of postcards from the point of view of their special symbolism, proves that a regular postcard hides much more more meaning than it may seem at first glance...
1966
1968
1970
1971
1972
1973
1977
1979
1980
1981
1984
And after some time, the industry produced a wide range of postcards, pleasantly pleasing to the eye in the windows of newsstands filled with traditionally discreet printed products.
And even though the quality of printing and the brightness of the colors of Soviet postcards were inferior to imported ones, these shortcomings were made up for by the originality of the subjects and the high professionalism of the artists.
The real heyday of the Soviet New Year's card came in the 60s. The number of subjects has increased: motives such as space exploration and the fight for peace appear. Winter landscapes were crowned with wishes: “May the New Year bring success in sports!”
There was a variegated variety of styles and methods in the creation of postcards. Although, of course, it could not do without interweaving the content of newspaper editorials into the New Year's theme.
As the famous collector Evgeniy Ivanov jokingly notes, on the postcards “the Soviet Father Frost actively participates in the social and industrial life of the Soviet people: he is a railway worker on the BAM, flies into space, melts metal, works on a computer, delivers mail, etc.
His hands are constantly busy with work - perhaps that’s why Santa Claus carries a bag of gifts much less often...” By the way, E. Ivanov’s book “New Year and Christmas in Postcards”, which seriously analyzes the plots of postcards from the point of view of their special symbolism, proves that there is much more meaning hidden in an ordinary postcard than it might seem at first glance...
1966
1968
1970
1971
1972
1973
1977
1979
1980
1981
1984
