Soviet Children’s Books in Europe and the USA in the 1920s–1930s

Abstract

In her article, “Soviet Children’s Books in Europe and the USA in the 1920–1930s”, Olga Maeots suggests that the 1920s is a period of avant-garde experiment in Soviet children's books when both form and content had undergone a radical renovation. Modernistic experiments in illustration and book design and new social values incorporated into children's literature had drastically changed children’s books in the USSR and in the world. Thin, bright-colored picture books on cheap paper were appreciated all around the world and served not only as “ambassadors of cultural diplomacy” that told about life in Soviet Russia but also as “agents of artistic influence”. They gave an impulse to the development of the modern picture book in Europe and the USA. The article examines how Soviet children's books distributed abroad and how the Soviet experiment had influenced children’s book publishing in the 1920–1930s.

Keywords: Children's books of the 1920s–1930s; picture books; Soviet children's books of 1920s; Russian émigré artists.