St. Petersburg: Rus muz, 2018. The Russian Museum has taken a cue from the venue of this year's World Cup to create a broad exhibition of 350 works from its collection, the Hermitage, and private collections that show how Russian artists of the twentieth century took up the subject of sport with zeal. Some works depict the joy and striving in simple clean forms reminiscent in tone to ancient Greek vase-painting, while others exploited or were commissioned to propagandistic side of sport, touting it as a form of secular military training and a way to keep up stamiina for long days at the factory. The Soviet government as the main patron of the arts for most of the twentieth century sought to show its people that athletics meant grace, strength, and enjoyment and made the new Soviet man and woman fit for work in the field or factory and for defense of the country.
