The Beast of Joy: Women Artists from Soviet Republics
Middlesex
Zimmerli Art Museum
Spotlighting pioneering women artists from the 1970s and 80s, this exhibition presents paintings and works on paper from Soviet-era nonconformist art movements.
Aili Vint, "Composition squared II," 1977. Gouache on paper. Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union.
The Beast of Joy: Women Artists from Soviet Republics highlights artists from Ukraine, the Baltic states, the Caucasus, and Central Asia working in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s. Long underrecognized, these women forged distinctive practices shaped by local traditions, modernist legacies, and relentless experimentation. Presented in dialogue with poetry from the same regions and period, the presentation emphasizes art’s multivocal nature. Drawn entirely from the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection, The Beast of Joy foregrounds women’s vital contributions to Soviet nonconformist art.
The Beast of Joy: Women Artists from Soviet Republics is organized by Olena Martynyuk, Associate Curator, Department of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union and Arts of Eurasia.