Posters collection of agricultural production from fonds of fine arts department of institute of book studies of V.I. Vernadskyi national library of Ukraine

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POSTERS COLLECTION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION FROM FONDS OF FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT OF INSTITUTE OF BOOK STUDIES OF V.I. VERNADSKYI NATIONAL LIBRARY OF UKRAINE

Petro Skrypnyk,

Candidate of Historical Science (Ph. D. in History), Junior Researcher of Fine Arts Department of Institute of Book Studies, V. I. Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine)

The aim of the research. The article displays the processes of agricultural production in Ukraine as reflected in visual media, posters in particular. In contrast with the vast majority of researchers who viewed posters as an effective means of indoctrinating the society, the author states that they also played an essential role in the development of country's productive forces. With certain reservations, these can be considered as poster witnesses providing the visual evidence of the Ukrainian history of the 1920-ies. The research methodology is based on the method of comparative analysis in the presentation of socio-political processes in Ukraine in the period mentioned. Scientific novelty of the research consists in re-considering the principal postulates of the Soviet historiography of the 1920-ies with reliance on posters as visual information sources. The viewpoint that under the influence of Bolshevik propaganda the Ukrainian citizens unanimously started building a new society is contrary to actual facts. Without denying the effect of propaganda on social life, the author stresses the necessity of a more balanced approach to the processes that took place in the critical periods of Ukrainian history. In particular, attention should be drawn to the repressive measures of Soviet authorities against the prevailing majority of Ukraine's population. This research is carried out in an alternative direction of studying the socio-political history of Ukraine in the 1920-ies. Conclusions. The analysis of the posters examined has shown that those concerned with agricultural production played not a marginal, but, probably, even a major part in the growth of Ukrainian peasants' selfconsciousness as compared with political posters. New technological ideas and the methods of their implementation, which posters presented, rather than a stock of stereotype communist slogans, played the decisive role in the rise of agricultural production in Ukraine. Skillfully composed and masterfully made, they, on the one hand, became the pieces of figurative art and, on the other, - an ideal means of communication in the milieu of semi-literate rural citizens. They also are an essential supplement to the textual history of the Ukrainian agriculture of the 1920-ies.

Key words: poster, poster collection, visualization of scientific studies, agricultural production posters.

The high scientific relevance of the research topic consists in the shift of accents in interpreting the history of Ukraine. A large majority of researchers believed and still believe that Ukrainian society in the 1920-ies was overpoliticized and that political propagandist posters played a significant role in this. However, the author states that posters addressing other areas, in particular, those that displayed the processes of agricultural production also played a very important part in society's life and became a noticeable phenomenon for Ukrainian peasants. It is this fact that deserves a special focus.

The analysis of studies and publications. The issues of the socio-political situation of Ukraine in the 1920-ies were considered in numerous works of historians, art scholars and sociologists. They analyzed both the general situation of the republic and its various dimensions. Much attention was given to varied aspects of the political development of Ukraine. The advancement of agriculture was studied by M. Prysiazhniuk [7, 18], V. Kalinichen ko [2], K. Kondratiuk [1]. Publishing activities were addressed by V. Molot- kina [10, 16] and O. Vaskivska [3]. Various sides of poster production were examined by N. Chaus [4], Ye. Lezhen [5], A. Avramenko [6] et al. Yet, there were no works concerned with the visual history of Ukrainian agriculture in the 1920-ies. This article is the first attempt to fill that gap.

The aim of the study is to present, with reliance on numerous actual posters, the visual history of agricultural production in Ukraine in the 1920-ies. Since the poster is a form of figurative art, it plays an essential role in influencing the consciousness of common people. So, the material involved shows an alternative trend in displaying the socio-political history of Ukraine.

Presentation of the main material. The situation of Ukraine in the 1920-ies was difficult and ambiguous. Having solved by armed force the question of state power in their favor, Bolsheviks started a radical reshuffling of all socio-economic relations. Their persistent attempts made in 19181921, in accordance with their program to build a commodity-free centralized economy, failed.

That made the Soviet authorities revise their economic policy, mainly, in respect to peasants. Its practical changes started in March 1921, after the 10^th Congress of RCP(B) [Russian Communist Party (of Bolsheviks)] adopted the resolution `On substituting the surplus appropriation with the natural tax'. It formed the basis for numerous legislative acts approved by the RSFSR (the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic) state bodies; those were later duplicated in the USRR (Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic).

The decision on cancelling the surplus appropriation and introducing natural tax stimulated the development of agriculture. Later, country's authorities developed a number of political incentives for enhancing agriculture productivity by regular supplies of agricultural equipment, a more tolerant attitude to private agricultural cooperatives, establishing a network of machine and tractor stations etc.

In addition to purely political measures, certain steps were taken towards enhancing the efficiency of agricultural production. The primary goal was to promote systemic scientific research aimed at the advancement of agriculture. Ukraine was an agrarian state, and scientific support to agriculture as the leading economy branch was of crucial importance.

A seminal factor of popularizing the results of scientific research was their publication in mass media. Traditionally, periodicals were involved in the process. They not merely presented the stages of the historical development of science and social life, but were an effective driving force of progress via promoting the advancement of science and disseminating the outcomes of scientific studies and introducing them in agricultural production. All in all, according to experts' calculations, at least 120 scientific journals were published [7].

Alongside with general scientific periodicals, a large number of highly specialized scientific and sectoral editions were published. All that was beneficial for the general education, cultural and professional growth of agricultural producers.

At the same time, the realities of the 1920-ies caused certain problems and difficulties in the implementation of new scientific developments. The main obstacle on their way was a very limited access to information sources for the majority of Ukraine's people. The library network was not very extensive at the time. The circulation of mass media was not so broad as to embrace significant circles of society, especially when they were concerned not with propagandist but with educational literature, the scientific one in particular. Besides, a large majority of citizens were hardly literate, not responsive to novel scientific ideas, and even less ready to implement them.

This situation required new ingenious methods of educating the common people of Ukraine. The way out was found in the distribution of posters as one of the major information sources. Being a form of reflecting the objective reality, posters in their best examples harmoniously combine a high style of figurative art with the needs of mass consumers. Printed in large numbers of copies and distributed over considerable territories, with their specific combination of verbal and non-verbal information, posters are able to influence the opinion of the broad public.

Propagandists were the first to notice this particular feature of poster art. What is more, at the initial stage of poster introduction their social impact was so significant that it produced an illusion of the domination of political propagandist posters over all others. For this very reason, today's researchers, who lack the evidence of concrete materials, fell under the influence of Bolshevik propagandists and agreed with their conclusions about the total domination of political posters and their pivotal role in the ideological restructuring of the society.

In one of his works the author focused on this fact and emphasized that the available materials of the 1920-ies show that political posters were not the dominating factor in society's life and that the posters addressing other topics played at least an equally important role in Ukrainian public life [8]. One of such alternative research approaches is to display agricultural production processes of the 1920-ies.

Now VNLU (V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine) holdings keep 245 agriculture-oriented posters that were printed in Ukraine. 124 of those belong to the sphere of political propaganda, while 121 deal with the processes of agricultural production. As far as their numerical characteristics and the influence on the conscience of common citizens are concerned, it is worth to note that here of great importance was the ability of the majority of Ukrainian people to adopt the information of this ideological trend.

Today, it is already recognized that a vast majority of Ukrainians did not accept Bolsheviks' communist beliefs. The attitude of people to the ideas of global communism and, above all, to the total socialization of the means of production, especially in the agrarian sector, was adverse, even hostile. Because of that, they did not approve of respective propagandist posters. In spite of extraordinary measures taken by Bolsheviks in the first half of the 1920-ies to propagate centralized collectivization, even according to the notorious “Brief Course of the VCP(B) [the all-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks)], in the spring of 1928 a mere 2-3% of the total number of peasant households wanted to voluntarily join kolhosps (collective farms) [9, c. 298].

At the same time, a large majority of Ukrainian population showed a rather positive attitude to the information dealing with production processes. The issues of arable farming, animal husbandry, agricultural technologies and machinery etc. were instrumental in increasing yields, the profitability of individual peasant farms and, therefore, in improving the well-being of each peasant family. For that reason, such information was in high demand among people. This was especially true about posters, which clearly demonstrated the basic agricultural production processes in the form comprehensible to peasants.

The posters published in the 1920-ies, which are kept in VNLU holdings, cover about forty aspects of human activities in agriculture. They could be considered as a kind of illustrated history of Ukrainian agriculture in the 1920-ies. There are all reasons to state that they played a beneficial role in the life of Ukrainian society.

It is worth to draw attention to the abundance of posters concerned with the abovementioned subjects on the territory of Ukraine. In that, a major part was played by publishing houses and state institutions, which printed and distributed poster products. 56 publishers functioned in Ukraine in the 1920-ies [10, p. 105]. The most important among them were state-owned and cooperative ones. Although the principal role belonged to state-supported publishing houses, publishers of other forms of ownership also played a noticeable part. Anyway, in the 1920-ies the “total collectivization” in the publishing business of Ukraine did not happen yet.

As to poster production, according to VNLU holdings, 26 publishers are recorded. To be sure, the contribution of each of them was far from the same. Some publishers confined themselves to issuing single posters, while others were engaged in their mass production.

Among the institutions that widely popularized agricultural production processes, one should mention, first and foremost, Narkomzem (the People's Commissariat for Land Affairs) of the USRR. Being engaged directly in advancing agriculture in Ukraine, Narkomzem attached great importance to varied publishing activities. It had its own publishing department, which had subdivisions in all gubernias (provinces) of Ukraine. It actively collaborated with scientific institutions doing research in agriculture, in particular, with the All-Ukraine Agronomic Society, through whose initiative the Higher Courses for Animal Husbandry Specialists were set up. The best scientists participated in their work, and their lectures were published as books [11].

A significant addition to book publication was the production of posters addressing agriculture. Eight Narkomzem-issued posters have been found in VNLU holdings. And although the Book Chamber of Ukraine, in terms of book publishing only mentions the collaboration with the All-Ukraine Agronomic Society, in the field of poster production there were 4 such institutions (Nosivska, Radomyska, Kharkivska research stations, and the Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute of Agricultural Reclamation).

Besides, the publishing department of Narkomzem also produced posters through its own initiative. The most notable in that was Odessa Province Department of the USRR Narkomzem's Publishing House. Experienced specialists in agriculture contributed to the preparation of materials for posters. As an example, we can mention the Russian-language poster produced in the Third State Printing Office of Odesa “How to cultivate land for winter grain crops”.

Ill. 1

The poster (Ill. 1) is made in the classic black-and-white graphic style. It contains both verbal and non-verbal information. The drawing, which occupies less than a third of the poster, shows a farmer who is cultivating his land with a horse-drawn plow. The drawing per se is precise and laconic. The scale of the illustration is such that it fills the entire picture and attracts viewer's attention, showing how hard peasant's work is.

The verbal part, which takes a larger part of the poster, informs the viewer about the stages of land cultivation and gives advice for achieving the desired results. Its central part contains a table that presents the sequence of agro- technical operations for obtaining the highest yield. The poster, printed in 1922, was prepared by agronomists O. and B. Duvins. Illustrator's name is not known. The number of copies printed was 5.000.

In another case, Narkomzem experts addressed an issue of soil science. At that time, the control of shifting sands was important. Under unfavorable climate conditions, sands were easily carried to fertile land, which led to the sandification of fertile soils and the reduction of their productivity. In scientists' opinion, such abnormal natural phenomena could lead to a 10-30% reduction in the output of useful products. In this connection, Narkomzem experts were developing a number of preventive measures to minimize the yield losses resulting from such situations.

To this end, in addition to specialized literature, Narkomzem Publishers gave a commission to F. S. Yefetov [12, p. 235], at that time a well-known expert in creating forest shelter belts, to prepare data for the broad familiarization of Ukrainian people with the methods of controlling the sandification of fertile soils. As a result, the poster “Fix the sands - protect fertile lands” was printed in 1922 by the Third State Printing Plant of Narkomzem's Odesa department.

It combines verbal and non-verbal information. Although the previous poster is based on the textual material, more space in this one is taken by illustrations that show the sequence of actions towards soil consolidation.

The poster consists of four sepia drawings. It is made in the graphic manner close to realistic images. As is well known, in the 1920-ies the photographic method of poster production was very fashionable. On the one hand, it considerably reduced the cost of products. On the other, photography became a new trend in implementing illustrators' creative ideas and was favorably perceived by customers. Not infrequently, artists produced their paintings as imitations of photographs, which are the artistic features of the poster mentioned.

The first two drawings in the poster show the results of sandstorms. Large sand dunes were a serious hazard for the environment since they engulfed fertile lands, roads and, in some cases, even countryside communities. Two other drawings show the methods to control such severe natural disasters. This is, first of all, soil consolidation by growing certain plants.

The poster's author recommends to grow red willow. That is a red-colored shrub common in Europe, growing predominantly on river banks and lake shores, on sand terraces. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant [13].

Then, the next step recommended is to plant trees, primarily, pines. As a result, hazardous shifting sands could be transformed into the territories suitable for agriculture. 5000 copies of the poster were produced.

Another poster issued by Narkomzem was concerned with enhancing the efficiency of cultivating grain crops, the corn in this case. The corn is a grain, forage and industrial crop of universal use. Under conditions of rather low yields of cereals and frequent harvest failures, which were typical in Ukraine in the 1920-ies, it was of special significance. For that reason, in the same 1922, Narkomzem issued the poster entitled “Improve the corn”, which publicized visually and verbally the principal ways of increasing corn yields.

The main idea of this poster is to select high-quality seeds for enhancing the efficiency of corn cultivation. In this connection, the poster contains two focuses: the visual and textual ones. The visual element is located in the poster center, which, according to illustrator's concept, should draw most attention. At the same time, the visual information is divided into two images: the left-hand one shows rejected low-quality corn ears, while the right-hand image demonstrates the corn ears, which, in the opinion of poster's authors, should produce the highest yield. The corn ears are very realistic, of bright yellow color and very distinctly pictured, so the viewer can guess what it means even without any text added.

As to the text itself, it presents a detailed explanation of the main idea: when, how and in what conditions the seeds should be selected, along with the time of sowing, harvesting and keeping the seeds for the next year's cultivation. The material was prepared by D. Baransky - one of the leading experts in crop farming, an associate of Odesa Agriculture Research Station, a member of the Russian Botanic Society [14, p. 202]. The general editorial preparation of this poster, as well as other ones issued by the USRR Narkomzem, was done by Professor A. Sapegin [15]. 5000 copies of the poster were printed.

The names of illustrators who painted it are not known.

Besides Narkomzem, other publishers were also engaged in producing posters dealing with agriculture. Of special interest are specialized publishers issuing posters to meet the needs of peasants. Here, it is worth to dwell on publishing reforms in Ukraine in the second half of the 1920-ies - the early 1930-ies.

In February 1925, the Resolution of the Organizing Bureau of the RCP(B) Central Committee `On periodicals for peasants' was adopted; it specified measures towards wider publishing of the literature intended for peasants. The necessity of targeted agricultural editions in Ukraine was also stressed. That was emphasized in the USRR Narkomzem memorandum sent to USRR Council of People's Commissars on 24 May 1924. In the April of the very same 1924, the publishing department within USRR Narkomzem was liquidated, and in early 1925 `Radianskyi Selianyn' all-Ukraine Agricultural Publishing House in the form of mutual company was founded on its base [16, p. 106].

Another reorganization was held in 1930. In December, instead of the State Publishing House of Ukraine (SPHU), the State Publishing Association of Ukraine (SPAU), based in Kharkiv, was set up. Then, 6 independent publishers were liquidated, and instead of the `Radianskyi Selianyn' Publishing House, the `Derzhsilhospvydav' (State Agricultural Publishing House) was established within the SPAU [16, p. 11].

Along with books, these specialized publishers also produced posters. VNLU collection holds posters of 13 titles, which were issued by the abovementioned publishers (5 of those were produced by the first one and 8 - by the other). One of the posters was printed under an order of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Research Station.

The topics of those posters were quite varied. They presented recommendations for land cultivation, pest and disease control, as well as advice on the most rational care for farm animals. The distinctive features of the posters printed by `Radianskyi Selianyn' Publishers are precise images of the agricultural production situations depicted in radiant colors. These posters are characterized with a high content of visual information that can be comprehended by viewers even without comments. At the same time, their textual information explains secondary issues that may be unclear for an inexperienced worker. The poster “Protect your fields with forest belts” (Ill. 2) can serve as an example.

Ill. 2

Unlike the abovementioned sepia graphic poster that demonstrates the protection against shifting sands, this one depicts the ways of protecting fertile lands with planted forest belts, snow etc.

If in the first case one sees a kind of a schematic sketch with many symbolic features, in this poster a distinctive multi-colored spectrum supplemented with diagonals allows the viewer to make a certain action plan for dealing with the problem. In addition, the text harmoniously supplements the visualization effect, forming a realistic picture of what is happening. This poster was produced under an order of USRR Narkomzem and printed in 4,000 copies by the First Printing Shop of `Kyivdruk' Trust.

Another poster, this time printed by the `Derzhsilhospvydav' (State Agrarian Publishing House) under the title “Collect sunflower ash”, shows the process of accumulating this raw material valuable for chemical industry. It is done in the sepia graphic style: the drawings are distinct, to some extent, sketchy. Its textual information is added to the visual pictures of collecting the raw material. The poster was printed at G. I. Petrovskyi Book Factory, which operated under SPAU. 50,000 copies were produced.

Besides specialized state publishing houses, posters were also printed by private and cooperative publishers. Here, special attention should be given to the `Knyhospilka' Publishing House. `Knyhospilka' was the all-Ukraine cooperative book-publishing and trading organization that functioned in 19181931, first, in Kyiv and later in Kharkiv. It had branches in Kyiv and Odesa [17]. In the mid-1920-ies, `Knyhospilka' took the second place in the USRR in terms of the number of the printed copies produced, and was the third after `Derzhvydav Ukrainy' and `Proletarii' - in terms of the book titles published [10, p. 104].

Along with literature, `Knyhospilka' also published posters. In that, in the 1920-ies, it took the undeniable first place among all other Ukrainian publishers. The author recorded 99 titles of its posters in VNLU holdings, with agricultural production processes represented in 19 of those. The posters were published both through the initiative of the publishing house itself, and in collaboration with other institutions, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk research stations, and the All-Ukrainian Union of Industrial Crops, in particular.

The artistic features, one can say, the visiting card of the posters produced by `Knyhospilka' was the presentation of their topics in a simple intelligible form understood by common viewers. At the same time, their high artistic quality is evident. In the majority of cases, the posters are made in the realistic rather than graphic manner. Their important trait is the combination of colors that are most suitable for the perception of visual information. Besides, the diagonal placing of things and persons enhances the effect of viewer's presence; in particular, it accentuates the main objects situated in the central - most important - part of the poster. We see a balanced combination of verbal and non-verbal information. The textual accompaniment is as important an element as the image itself.

One of the posters encouraging the rise of production efficiency in animal husbandry can be mentioned as an example. This branch is of utmost importance in the system of agricultural production. It provides people with food, supplies raw materials for light and food industries. Animal products are easily sold, and often they were the basis of peasant family budgets in Ukraine.

The poster printed by `Knyhospilka' Publishing House advertises progressive, as of that time, technologies in pig breeding. The classical technology of conditioning pigs was their feeding to obtain large amounts of fat, i.e., lard, in their live weight. However, in the early 20^th century, new technologies were proposed, which provided alternative methods targeted at producing meat, that is, pig feeding for bacon.

The poster presented in Ill. 3 demonstrates the main stages of this process. Poster's authors draw attention to the fact that the implementation of such a technology is possible both at collective and individual farms. The desirable breed type, ways and methods of pig conditioning are shown, along with their economic efficiency. The authors of the poster are O. Poplavskyi and A. To- foriv; 3,000 copies of it were printed.

In addition to publishing houses, other institutions were active in issuing posters, in particular, the scientific societies functioning within Narkomzem under the guidance of the Agricultural Scholarly Committee of Ukraine (ASCU). Their principal functions were to carry out research and popularize scientific information concerning agricultural production [18, p. 290].

In the mid-1920-ies, within Narkomzem there were nearly 40 agriculture- oriented scientific institutions [18, p. 292]. Besides sectoral institutions, there also were departmental ones, like Ukrburiaksoiuz (concerned with sugar beets), Tsukrotrest (responsible for sugar), Shkirsyndykat (dealing in leather) etc. According to author's calculations, at least 50 scientific agricultural institutions functioned in Ukraine at that time.

Ill. 3

Besides publications in scientific journals and issuing popular brochures intended for informing the broad public on the new scientific knowledge gained, posters were also employed. Actively involved in that were both scientific research institutions and departmental organizations. In VNLU collection of posters, 19 such institutions have been recorded. All of them, to one extent or another, contributed to popularizing research and science achievements in the field of agriculture.

Among institutions that promoted the agricultural production in Ukraine, one should mention Nosivska Breeding Research Station, which is one of the oldest scientific institutions in Ukraine. It is situated in Doslidne township (now in Nosivskyi District, Chernihiv Oblast) and was founded in June 1911. The main area of its scientific activities was the breeding of new varieties of winter rye, spring barley, oats, clover, alfalfa, onions and cucumbers that were adapted to local climate and could produce high yields in the conditions of low moisture amount in soil [19].

The employees of Nosivska Research Station published the results of their studies in periodicals, in particular, in Agricultural Science Bulletin, Agricultural Business and in numerous local periodicals and brochures that were issued in large numbers of copies and were intended for mass readers. Posters, which were welcomed by peasants, became a good supplement to the popularization of station's scientific developments.

Since the scientists of Nosivska Research Station did not have a publishing facility of their own, they prepared materials for posters printed by various publishers. When studying the poster collection of VNLU holdings, the author has recorded 7 titles of the posters presenting agricultural production processes, which were issued by 4 publishers. The topics of those are closely related to the scientific studies carried out at Nosivska Research Station.

One of the areas of its activities was producing young pigs intended for breeding. That is shown in the poster “Breed pigs”, which was prepared by station's experts of respective specialization. If the `Knyhospilka'-produced poster shown in Ill. 3 advertises pig feeding for producing bacon, this version demonstrates the main advantages of raising pigs as such, in comparison with other farm animals.

The poster consists of 14 separate images presenting the main stages of growing these animals for meat, as well as their transfer to procurement points. The images are realistic and the text supplements the visual information. In particular, the low cost of producing pork as compared with beef is mentioned. The poster was printed in 1924 by `Chas' Publishers (Kyiv); it was prepared by A. Redkin - a well-known expert in the breeding of agricultural animals [20]. This, as well as other posters issued by Nosivska Research Station, was illustrated by O. Makovkina. 5,000 poster copies were printed.

However, the principal direction of Nosivska Research Station's work was plant cultivation and breeding. Its experts focused on sunflower - an important industrial crop, which is one of the world leaders in oil-producing crops.

Sunflower arrived in Ukraine in the 17^th century. Its industrial use began in the mid-19^th century and the boost of sunflower cultivation in Ukraine started in the 20^th century. Although the part of 9 Ukrainian gubernias in the sunflower-growing area of the Russian Empire was mere 7%, in the 1920-ies the USRR areas sown with it increased by fifteen times, and their proportion in the whole URSR amounted to 32% [21].

It is this fact that interested agrarian scientists and drew enhanced attention to sunflower. Along with studying the expediency of using it, researchers also focused on the importance of sunflower cultivation in the conditions of high humidity or hot climate, which were characteristic of northern and southern regions of Ukraine. The outcomes of their research efforts were published in numerous scientific editions. At the same time, a certain number of posters showing the economic feasibility of sunflower cultivation in various regions of Ukraine were issued for mass consumers as well.

E.g., the poster “Sunflower” (Ill. 4) was produced under an order of the USRR Narkomzem. It presents sunflower - the principal oilseed crop of Ukraine. Although sunflower is an introduced plant, quite often it is associated with Ukraine as a symbol of this agricultural country. It was a kind of the visiting card of our state, especially in the 1920-ies.

The artist caught those things very precisely. The poster is painted in a vivid realistic manner. Three main colors are present in it: yellow, green and blue-violet as the symbol of the light-blue sky. Evidently, the illustrator knew well that the combination of yellow and light blue was unwelcome in Soviet Ukraine, so, he substituted the blue-violet sky for the light-blue one.

Although this poster had a purely functional agricultural mission, at the same time it also performed certain ideological functions. At the top of the poster, in its center, the title “Sunflower” is placed, which is its main idea. To the left and to the right of the title, the main acronyms of the Soviet state - УСРР (the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic) and НКЗС (the People's Commissariat for Land Affairs) - are marked. The eye also catches the absence of red color, which is the symbol of communist creed and of the Soviet state. So, ideologically, this poster is a compromise. On the one hand, certain attributes of the Soviet power are present. On the other, the absence of red color as its main symbol may as well imply the possibility of Ukraine's development beyond the bounds of the Soviet dogmas.

Compositionally, the poster is not made in the very traditional way either. As a rule, the main message is placed in the center of an artwork. In this case, however, the sunflower, painted in vibrant yellow and green colors, is located in the left-hand part of the poster. The remaining space of the composition is given to other 5 images, which show the principal stages of transforming the sunflower as a symbolic and valuable industrial crop into the end product - vegetable oil, which is of considerable economic importance.

poster visual history agricultural ukraine

Ill. 4

The poster was published in 1930. The material for publication was prepared by S. Kulzhyn- skyi - a well-known agrarian scientist [22]. The poster was manufactured under an order of USRR Narkomzem by the SVU-UAS (State Publishers of Ukraine - Ukrainian Academy of Sciences) printing shop in 1,500 copies.

Besides Nosivska Research Station, an essential contribution to enhancing agricultural production was made by Kharkivska Research Station, which was founded in 1908. From 1913, it was affiliated with the present Kharkiv Oblast Research Station as its independent department [23].

Along with publications in scientific editions, employees of Kharkivska Research Station were actively involved in preparing posters intended for mass consumers. 17 such posters have been found in VNLU holdings. They were produced by three publishers: by the Narkomzem Publishing Department, `Knyhospilka', and by `Kharpolihraf' State Trust. Most of them (15) were issued by `Knyhospilka'. It was, so to say, the base publisher that printed the posters of Kharkiv Research Station.

The topics of those posters were quite varied. They raised the issues of arable farming, seed breeding, advanced agricultural technologies, control of field pests and plant diseases, and provided advice for overcoming droughts. An important trend were recommendations on cultivating industrial crops that were of significant economic value. In one of the posters, on its entire effective area, a colorful sugar beet is shown. Poster's textual information emphasizes that Ukrainian lands produce the highest yields of this crop. The poster was prepared by the implementation department of Kharkiv Research Station. Its illustrator is not known. 10,000 copies were printed.

In another case, the issue of rational seed selection for achieving the highest yield was addressed. E.g., some posters dealing with the cultivation of watermelons and cucumbers recommended proven seed varieties; in particular, those were `Favorite of Piatyhorsky Khutir', `Crimean Winner' and `Murashka' for watermelons. For cucumbers, they included `Viaznykivskyi', `Berlizivskyi' and `Nizhynskyi' varieties. The posters published in 1929 drew the spectator's attention by their bright red-and-green as well as green-and- yellow colors. Illustrators' names are unknown. Each of the posters was issued in 3,000 copies.

Various aspects of farming culture were gaining in importance. In particular, the poster “When rye should be sown” provides recommendations that were proved in practice by the employees of Kharkiv Research Station. The poster was printed in three main colors: red, black and light green. Its illustrative part is made in the graphic manner and consists of three images, where farmers are carrying out certain agrotechnical operations with a horse-drawn plow and sowing equipment. The textual material, which supplements the visual one, specifies the sequence of the agrotechnical operations performed, while the diagonal direction emphasizes their importance. The poster was printed in 1929. Its illustrator was I. Poroshin - a well-known Soviet painter [24]. 5,000 copies were produced.

Alongside with publishers and scientific societies, it is worth to note the regions where the largest number of posters were printed. While in terms of the total number of poster titles published in Ukraine the first place was confidently held by Kharkiv and Kyiv, Odessa was the leader in producing posters addressing agriculture. The total number of posters published on the territory administered by Odesa Okrlit (the regional ideology-oriented agency responsible for issuing publication permissions) is 35; they were produced by three institutions: Odesa Okrug (district) agriculture department of the USRR Narkomzem (1), Odesa Gubernia publishing department of Narkomzem (4), Scientific Research Institute for Visual Aids (8), and Odesa Agricultural Institute (22).

Among those institutions, the first place in terms of the competence of their employees and scientific reputation, is undoubtedly taken by Odesa Agricultural Institute - the oldest educational institution of the respective specialization in Ukraine [25].

Odesa Agricultural Institute was a well-known educational facility. Simultaneously, profound scientific research was carried out there. Its professors and teaching staff published the outcomes of their studies in numerous monographs, brochures and periodicals. In particular, the Bulletin of Odesa Agricultural Institute was published in 1925-1926. Besides, to popularize their research results, Institute's employees took part in producing posters.

The Institute hosted a publishing office that prepared agricultural litera- ture, periodicals, as well as posters, for printing. The materials were mainly printed in V. I. Lenin State Printing Shop № 2(5). Posters of 22 titles produced by Odesa State Agricultural Institute in 1918-1930 are kept in VNLU holdings. One of those was printed by `Kyiv' State Trust. All others - in Odesa, by printing facilities subordinated to Odesa Okrlit.

The topics of these posters are quite varied. Among their main subjects were land cultivation, animal husbandry, and pest and disease control. The poster “Soil disking with harrowing” (Ill. 5) shows an advanced, as of that time, method of soil treatment with disk instruments.

Ill. 5

Soil disking means a complex technological process of fluffing the top ground layer. Usually, it was employed for treating the soil that contained perennial plants to use them as organic fertilizer, and in other cases that was necessary for retaining moisture in soil (26).

This poster belongs to colorful graphics genre. Multi-colored and multi-layered composition embodies the direction of authors' thoughts. Clearly seen is a motor-driven seeder whose operator leads it in a certain direction. It is surrounded by a wide field and the blue sky, which gives the picture spatial depth and perspective. The central location of the main object very clearly shows the position of the disking instrument for performing the agrotechnical operations that are necessary for preparing the soil for subsequent sowing.

The peculiarity of this poster is the total absence of textual support. In authors' opinion, it is not necessary here, since the main objects are clearly seen and easily recognized. The poster was published in 1930. It was produced in the Fifth Printing Shop of Odesa in 10,000 copies.

Its complete opposite is another poster dealing with land cultivation, whose title is “Crop rotation”. It contains the main attributes that are characteristic of the posters of such type. Made in bright multi-colored realistic manner, it depicts the main, most popular, types of agricultural products. Visual images are logically supplemented with the textual information that shows how the crop rotation should be organized for achieving the highest land productivity. The 5,000 poster copies were printed by the Second Printing Shop of Odesa.

One of the posters of Odesa State Agricultural Institute presents the measures proposed by its experts to control plant diseases, the cereal smut fungus in particular. Unlike the widely known poster illustrated by P Vasilyev [8, p. 144], the poster “Smuts on cereals” is produced in the genre of colorful graphics. Its separate illustrations show the main stages of plant disease control. However, of principal importance here is textual information, which is the main content of this poster. It is a good addition to the abovementioned P Vasiliev's work “Fight against smuts”. The poster was printed in 1930 by the Second State Printing Shop of Odesa in 5,000 copies.

Besides publishers, scientific societies, institutions that made a more or less significant contribution to the production and distribution of posters, it is worth to pay more attention to their authors, illustrators in particular, since without their involvement the production of posters as both information sources and pieces of art would be impossible. There are quite a few blank spots in this issue, especially when the 1920-ies are referred to.

Although the team of textual information compilers (authors, editors, proofreaders etc.) are, as a rule, denoted on each poster, the names of illustrators or their signatures are not a frequent occurrence. That particularly concerns the posters of the first half of the 1920-ies.

In the second half of the decade, such information began to appear, but not very often. As a result, of the 121 posters that represent agricultural production processes and are kept in VNLU holdings, merely 18 carry the names of artists who created them. What is more, the names of only 10 illustrators who took part in the preparation of posters to printing were mentioned.

Among them were both well- and little-known ones. There were artists who issued posters in series, but also were those who produced single posters. E.g., aforementioned painter O. Makovkina collaborated with Nosivska Research Station. She produced 7 posters dealing with agriculture. One of them, which is shown in Ill. 4, is a symbol of Ukraine as an agricultural country.

Other posters illustrated by her present various stages of agricultural production. The painter co-operated with 3 publishers: `Chas', DVU-UAN Publishing House (both in Kyiv), and with Leningrad Gublit. 4 posters were printed by I. Fedorov State Printing Shop in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). It is interesting to note that they were published in the Ukrainian language and under an order of a Ukrainian research station.

Among other artists, one should note the names of aforementioned P. Vasilyev and of P Lapin (1887-1937) - a renowned Ukrainian graphic artist, who collaborated over 1917-1937 with Kyiv and Kharkiv publishers `Verny- hora', `Prolisky', `Derzhvydav', `Knyhospilka' and `Rukh'. Children's books illustrated by P. Lapin are kept in the holdings of the Pedagogical Museum of Ukraine, I. Fedorov Book Chamber of Ukraine and in private collections [27, p. 195].

P Lapin's posters are kept in VNLU holdings as well. Under an order of `Tsukrotrest' Publishers, he took part in illustrating the posters that show the stages in sugar-beet pest control. The posters are bright and realistic. They can be divided into two groups: two were produced in Ukrainian and two - in Russian. The posters of the first group were printed in 3,000 copies, those of the other group - in 10,000 copies. Besides these four posters, there also is an appeal poster that calls on hunters and anglers to protect forest plantations.

The poster was issued by the Kyiv regional branch of the All-Ukraine Union of Hunters and Fishermen. The number of its copies was 2,000.

Attention should also be given to the quantitative poster coverage of agricultural production processes in Ukraine. As already noted, they addressed nearly 40 areas of human involvement in various spheres of agriculture. When describing the activities of publishers, scientific societies, educational facilities and institutions participating in poster distribution, the majority of those areas have already been mentioned. Therefore, it is important to draw attention to the key points, in particular, to the artistic values of the posters presenting agricultural topics.

Here we mean the posters whose pictorial features most fully revealed some or other aspects of agriculture in Ukraine. Among them, one cannot omit the poster “WOLFNERA noble seeds from Vienna”, where `WOLF- NERA', in all probability, is the trademark under which products of the renowned company Wolfner&Weisz of Vienna were sold. The main aim of the poster was to advertise elite varietal seeds and to present specimens of a wide assortment of agricultural crops, flowers and aromatic herbs (Ill. 6).

The main character here is a pretty, smiling young woman in bright colorful coquettish clothes who sells the seeds. She is placed off the center of the image. The compositional balance of the picture is slightly upset. At the same time, owing to poster's vertical shape, shown at its forefront are the samples of agricultural products that are situated in the center and the right-hand part of the picture. On the one hand, the attention is focused on the salesgirl of seed material. On the other, - her basket contains staple vegetables - the crops that can be grown from the seeds advertised. The poster is bright-colored and picturesque. It follows the lead of the best artworks produced by prominent poster painters of the late 19^th - early 20^th centuries. It is strikingly different from all other posters dealing with agriculture, suggesting that it was produced abroad and addressed not ordinary peasants but, rather, professional and wealthy specialists and managers. Its year of publication, the number of printed copies and painter's name are not denoted.

Among the best works from the viewpoint of their artistic merits one can point out the poster “Fight against smuts” by P Vasilyev and those by O. Ma- kovkina on various agricultural topics. Of them, the highest praise, both for its artistic value and ideological worth, deserves the “Sunflower” (Ill. 4). The works by other Ukrainian artists can be mentioned as well. Special attention is drawn by the poster “Agricultural machinery plant of R. and T. Elvorti”, which advertises the products of this plant (now Elvorti Joint-Stock Company, before 24 October 2016 - `Chervona Zirka' Public Joint-Stock Company) [28], situated in Yelysavethrad (now Kropyvnytskyi). It was one of the oldest agricultural machinery plants of Ukraine as a part of the Russian Empire.

Ill. 6

The poster is illustrated in bright colors and realistic manner. Standing

in its center is a smiling peasant satisfied with the operation of his agricultural machines. The main types of the equipment produced by the plant are shown around the perimeter of the poster. Dated in 1917, it was produced by Theodore Kibbel Offset Printing Factory (Petrograd, now St. Petersburg, the Russian Federation). Its illustrator and the number of copies printed are not known.

Another poster, which is entitled “During drought, corn insures against starvation”, is valuable both in terms of its content and artistic merit. It is realistic and multi-colored. The main object is placed in the center of the poster - an ear of corn, which, in authors' view, is a life-saving crop at the times of drought and harvest failure. The ear of corn is shown at the background of sky and a peasant sowing the field with corn. The poster is painted in contrasting colors. Its visual information is supplemented with the text that informs on the results of Kharkiv Research Station's experimental work with this crop. The poster was printed by `Knyhospilka' Publishers in 1924, its material was prepared by Kharkiv Research Station. The illustrator of the poster was M. Sokolyn. It was printed in 5,000 copies.

Another interesting poster shows the recommendations of the People's Commissariat for Public Health concerning the location of utility structures in the individual peasant farm. The title of the poster is “Orderly peasant homestead”. In it one can see a projection of a traditional countryside community. Shown in the background is the sky with picturesque clouds and a windmill as an obligatory attribute of a Ukrainian village.

The main object situated in the central part of the poster is an individual peasant homestead with the rational, in the authors' opinion, placement of outbuildings, which are to meet sanitary requirements developed by the People's Commissariat for Public Health. The poster shows 10 utility buildings that are to be present in, so to say, the basic peasant homestead.

An interesting feature of this poster is that it was published at the time when forced collectivization had already become a large-scaled phenomenon, and the collapse of individual peasant farms was taking place. The majority of peasant households refused to join kolhosps (collective farms) voluntarily. And the poster in question, to some extent, implied the resistance to the actions of totalitarian regime.

The poster was produced in 1930, it was prepared by the health education department of the People's Commissariat for Public Health and printed by `Naukova Dumka' Publishers in Kharkiv in 3,000 copies. The illustrator's name is not known.