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[SOVIET YOUTH WITHOUT THE IRON CURTAIN] Zdravstvui, drug! [i.e. Hello, Friend!]

Dolgopolov, I.

Moscow: Molodaia gvardia, 1957. Item #1818

96 leaves. 29,5х23 cm. In original cloth with colored debossed logo. Stains and ink mark on covers, shelfwear, tear of endpaper, otherwise very good internally.

Introduction and captions are printed in Russian, English, French and German.
This photo album was produced specially for the VI World Festival of Youth and Students held in Moscow in 1957.
During two weeks, the festival hosted over 30 thousand visitors from different countries. One of the Stalinist high-rises, the hotel ‘Ukraine’ was opened just before it. More than eight hundred various events were organized for and by guests: concerts, sports competitions, meetings of radio amateur engineers, exhibitions and the whole film festival showing works by young directors. It was a well-prepared and essential event in the post-WWII and post-Stalinist foreign affairs of the USSR. Soviet people kept in mind senses of relative freedom and transparency. The Iron Curtain temporarily got down and foreign culture was flourishing among socialist youth. It was after the Moscow festival that the fashion for jeans, bell-bottomed skirts, sneakers and rock and roll began to spread all over the Soviet Union. The phrase “For Peace and Friendship” was adopted as a slogan of this large-scale international event. Organizers issued a guide ‘On Other Countries, Briefly’, a newspaper ‘Festival’, song collections, agitational brochures, etc.
This welcoming album for guests includes numerous double-page, full-page and half-page photographs of Soviet people of various ethnic groups and occupations. The country showed off achievements in agriculture, industry, cultural and social policy through images of young and happy scientists, athletes, musicians, dancers, etc. The edition was compiled by artist and poster designer Igor Dolgopolov (1917-1991). He studied under Alexander Deineka, produced posters and became the chief artist of the magazine ‘Ogonek’ in 1958.
Copies are located in LoC, Princeton, Illinois and Florida Universities.

Status: On Hold