Reproducible experimental art in the formation of Soviet artistic industry: the Leningrad experience (1950s-1960s)

The article focuses on the phenomenon of Soviet reproducible experimental art associated with the activities of the production combines of the Leningrad branch of the RSFSR Art Fund. These included combines specializing in painting and decorative design, graphic art, decorative and applied arts, and sculpture, according to their 1967 designations. In the second half of the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, these institutions became experimental sites where principles for creating exemplary models for subsequent reproduction were developed. Materials from the Central State Archive of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg made it possible to substantiate the important role of the combines in shaping ideas about the relationship between authorial art and reproducible production. The article aims to demonstrate the significance of processes within the Leningrad combines that reflected the emergence of a practice of developing authorial models for subsequent production – both in small editions, within the combines’ own workshops, and on an industrial scale when models were transferred to manufacturing enterprises. The scientific novelty lies in defining the role of the Leningrad combines as experimental sites and as an important element in the formation of a new type of living environment. The study establishes that they occupied a significant position in the development of the art industry as institutions addressing the transition to a new system of artistic production and the manufacture of goods for mass urban society.