“I am Amazed by Everything I See”: Trips of British Architects to the USSR. On the Question of the perception of Soviet Architecture and the Features of Communication between English and Soviet Architects in 1920–1930s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2020.306Abstract
The article is dedicated to the problem of communication between Soviet and British architects in the period of 1920–1930s, which is very poorly studied in Russian and British historiography. The subject is thoroughly considered in two ways simultaneously. The author examines the political and socio-economic circumstances of such business trips in England. The main focus is on the professional goals and objectives of these visits, and on the reception and interpretation of Soviet architectural and urban planning practices by British architects. The second aspect to which attention is paid are the main points of the program for displaying Soviet architecture, which was organized by the host country. Since a number of visits to the USSR by foreign architects took place in the early 1930s, the nature of mutual interest in the creative experience of Soviet and English colleagues has been changing over the decades. The main objective of the work was an attempt to consider, to a first approximation, the initial stage of this relationship (late 1920s — 1930s) and the most important forms of communication between English and Soviet architects. The article analyses events organized by VOKS, Inturist, Soviet trade representatives, Society for Cultural Relations between the People of the British Commonwealth, and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. The work used materials from the Russian and British archives, including previously unpublished records of Berthold Lubetkin and Erno Goldfinger.
Keywords:
VOKS, British architecture, Soviet architecture, cultural diplomacy, Lubetkin, Goldfinger, London architectural Association
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References
Литература
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Источники
I. “SCR Annual Report 1944”. The UK. London, SCR Archive, Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies.
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V. “Unpublished notes for Lubetkin’s Samizdat”. The UK. London. RIBA Archive. LUB/25/4.
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VIII. “Berthold Lubetkin Papers”. The UK. London. RIBA Archive. LUB 11/1/3-4.
IX. “Приезжают английские архитекторы”, Красная газета, июль 9, 1932.
X. “Встреча советских и английских архитекторов”, Красная газета, июль 19, 1932.
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14. Yerbury, Frank. “Impressions of Russia”. Architectural Association Journal XLVIII, no. 549 (1932): 115–34.
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17. Johnson, Donald Leslie. “Frank Lloyd Wright in Moscow: June 1937”. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 46, no. 1 (1987): 65–79. doi: 10.2307/990146.
18. Williams-Ellis, Clough. Architect Errant. The Autobiography of Clough Williams Ellis. London: Constable, 1971.
19. Simon, E., Sh. Simon, W. A. Robson, and J. Jewkes. Moscow in the Making. 1937. Reprint, Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2014.
20. Dodd, Kenneth S. “Planning in the USSR”. Journal of the Town Planning Institute 20 (1933): 34–53.
21. Shoshkes, Ellen. “Jaqueline Tyrwhitt and transnational discourse on modern urban planning and design, 1941–1951”. Urban History 36, no. 2 (2009): 262–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926809006282.
22. Tyrwhitt, Jaqueline. “Town Planning”. In The Architect’s Yearbook, ed. by Trevor Dannatt and Jane Drew, 11–29. London: Elek Books Limited, 1945, vol. 1.
23. Hatherley, Owen. “An Eldorado for the Working Class? The import of Constructivism and the Lubetkin Legacy”. In Convention 2017 “Modernization and Multiple Modernities”, KnE Social Sciences, ed. by Elena Stepanova and Tatiana Kruglova, 216–30. Ekaterinburg, 2018. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v3i7.2476.
24. Lubetkin, Berthold. “The Builders: Recent Developments in Town Planning in the USSR”. Architectural Review 71 (1932): 201–14.
25. Lubetkin, Berthold. “Town and Landscape Planning in Soviet Russia. An Address by Berthold Lubetkin given to the Institute of Landscape Architects on 13th December, 1932, at the Architectural Association”. Architectural Association Journal (January 1933): 186–200.
Sources
I. “SCR Annual Report 1944”. The UK. London, SCR Archive, Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies.
II. “The Flood of the International Tourists”, Krasnaia gazeta, August 1, 1932. (In Russian)
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IV. “Arrive of the British architects in Keningrad.” Krasnaia gazeta, July 17, 1932. (In Russian)
V. “Unpublished notes for Lubetkin’s Samizdat”. The UK. London. RIBA Archive. LUB/25/4.
VI. “Jaqueline Tyrwhitt Papers”. The UK. London. RIBA Archive. Box 63.
VII. “Berthold Lubetkin Papers”. The UK. London. RIBA Archive. LUB/1/2/6-11.
VIII. “Berthold Lubetkin Papers”. The UK. London. RIBA Archive. LUB 11/1/3-4.
IX. “British Architects are Arriving”, Krasnaia gazeta, July 9, 1932. (In Russian)
X. “The meeting of English and British architects”. Krasnaia gazeta, July 19, 1932. (In Russian)
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Published
2020-09-22
How to Cite
Malich, K. A. . (2020). “I am Amazed by Everything I See”: Trips of British Architects to the USSR. On the Question of the perception of Soviet Architecture and the Features of Communication between English and Soviet Architects in 1920–1930s. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts, 10(3), 475–487. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2020.306
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Architecture
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Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.
