Was Soviet non-conformist a bourgeois movement?
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In response to the comment
I believe that the observation that non-conformist art was in fact a bourgeois movement in the middle of Soviet totalitarian regime is correct.
At some point the non-conformists represented Western democracy, fighting for The First Amendment in the middle of totalitarian state:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
But the history reveals it was not all so easy. When the career is at stake, all other values are put to rest. The tickets arebought, the hotel is booked, the curator gets rattled, the Lovre show is about to fall apart. During the Louvre scandal, they had right there, at their hands an opportunity of justifying themselves as true democrats by standing for the rights of unjustly persecuted Russian artist Oleg Mavromatti.
While the American "father" of the Soviet non-conformists, Ronald Feldman spoke out loud. As would undoubtedly do their French "mother", the rebel at heart, Dina Vierny. Despite the censorship that put Russian Counterpoint in jeopardy, the Soviet non-conformist artists chose to keep silent about the true scale of hardships in contemporary Russian art, avoiding the case of Mavromatti by all means, both during the press-conference and the seminar. Unlike their Western dealers from 40 years ago, the artists themselves chose to ignore the Russian rebel, the true non-conformists.
Erik Bulatov's work "Liberte" on the posters for Russian Counterpoint at the Louvre, is perhaps one of his worst paintings ever. The kitschy interpretation of Delacroix historical art, ruffled with Hollywood style wordings. There is not a slightest sign of original, unexpected thought, everything is bold and straight forward, including the light, composition, the use of color... He takes a nightmarish vision of the French revolutionary and turns it into a glamorous poster, ready for the Vogue cover. Meanwhile, the work captures the essence of the Russian Counterpoint, where the role of freedom in art is reduced to the function of the advertising label: freedom in art is precious as it appeals to the hearts of the wide (French) public, not to mention, it sells rather well.
Erik Bulatov. Liberte. 1992
Eugene Delacroix. Liberty Leading the People. 1830