The metro station “Mayakovskaya” designed by architect A. Dushkin and decorated with mosaic panels made from A. Deineka’s sketches was opened on September 11, 1938. In 1939, the design of the station received the Grand Prix at the New York World’s Fair. 34 mosaics survived (out of 35 which existed originally). They were united by a general theme marked by the author himself — “Day of the Land of the Soviets”.
One of the most striking features of the decorative cycle is the angle of view in the image: it’s due to the location of the mosaics on the ceiling of the station — the author simulates the upward look. However, this may be due to the fact that in the art of the 1920s — the first half of the 1930s, that especially in photography bold and forced perspective was considered to be the main innovation and characteristic feature. Moreover, many scenes in the mosaics are very similar to those in the photographs — in particular, a number of famous pictures by A. Rodchenko.
The other interesting characteristic of the monumental ensemble are the depicted scenes — bright, imaginative images — some derived from the past, some born by the era, peeped out of the constantly changing reality. Moreover, it’s characteristic that many of the motifs very similar in composition and set of elements can be found in the works of other authors of the epoch — in extreme frequency and almost in all art forms, but especially evident and often in photography, poster and applied art.
The art of A. Deineka is well studied; and the mosaics of the “Mayakovskaya” metro station are a landmark monument in the author’s work, the art of the epoch and in the ensemble of the Moscow Metro. It seems promising to explore the cycle of mosaics from a new angle — through the lens of photography, perhaps the most common, straightforward — democratic art form of the period. Furthermore, taking the ensemble as the case, by distinguishing its main themes and motifs and comparing them with a wide range of pieces of different types of art, it’s important to test the hypothesis that, firstly: in this period in the Soviet (or even global) art there existed common, typical for the time visual compositions or patterns. Secondly: that the photography along with poster and applied art represented these compositions in the most coherent and perspicuous way. And most importan­tly — replicated and distributed them, influencing people’s minds and visual culture in general.

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