“Soft Stone” Carving in the USSR: Research Practice and Artistic Criticism of the 1950s–1960s

This article examines the foundations of the flourishing and almost simultaneous transformation of the art industry in the USSR in the first postwar decades. It focuses on the artistic processing of the so-called “soft stone” (mainly gypsum rocks). Among the main factors of these processes, the author refers to research practice and art criticism, whose activity significantly increased during the period in question and played an important role in changing the status of this branch of the art industry and a noticeable evolution of stylistic trends. The analysis draws upon the first publications devoted to the history of “soft stone” carving. These publications are the only sources in this industry that secured the status of folk art crafts for enterprises. The enterprises include both historical ones, such as factories and cooperatives in Perm and Gorky regions, and those created in the 1930s–1940s, such as factories and plants in Arkhangelsk and Krasnodar regions. Special attention is paid to critical articles published in the magazine Dekorativnoye iskusstvo SSSR at the turn of the 1960s. The article analyses the critics’ perspectives, the scope of the issues they addressed, and their contributions to the advancement of the industry under investigation. Thus, the main topics covered in critical materials include the absence of artistic management at enterprises, the absence or small number of models that corresponded to the time and changing demand. It is concluded that the 1950s–1960s were a period of peak research and creative interest in “soft stone” carving. This era played a significant role in preparing the groundwork for the subsequent flourishing of this branch of the art industry and, as a result, authorial professional trajectories.