Dr Oliver Johnson

BA, PhD (University of Sheffield)

Contact details

tel: +44(0)114 2227412

Biography

I am currently working on a British Academy postdoctoral fellowship exploring the lived experiences of artists and their audiences in the post-war Soviet art establishment. This project will culminate in a monograph provisionally entitled Post-War Socialist Realism: Art, Authorities and Audiences in the Soviet Union.

My Ph.D. entitled Aleksandr Laktionov: A Soviet Artist was funded by the White Rose Consortium through the University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds. I have a broad interest in the visual culture of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia including art, design and cinema and enjoy frequent research visits to Moscow and St Petersburg.

In my spare time I am a keen orienteer and fell runner.

Research interests

My main areas of interest are post-war Soviet art and design, Soviet and post-Soviet film, the history of the Cold War and contemporary art in Russia.

Publications

'The Stalin Prize and the Soviet Artist: Status Symbol or Stigma?', Slavic Review, vol. 70 (no. 4, 2011), pp. 819-843..
'Aesthetic Enemies: The “Two Cultures” Theory at the Outset of the Cold War' in David Welch and Jo Fox (eds.), Justifying War (London: Palgrave, 2012).
'An Alternative History of Soviet Visual Culture' Kritika, vol. 11, no. 3, 2010, pp. 581-608.
‘”A Premonition of Victory”: A Letter from the Front, Russian Review, vol. 68 (no. 3, Summer 2010), pp. 408-428.
‘Assailing the Monolith: Popular Responses to the 1952 All Union Exhibition’ in Art History and Criticism 3: Art and Politics: Case Studies from Eastern Europe (Vytautas Magnus University: Kaunas, 2007).
'Kul’turnost’ or Kitsch: Varnishing Reality in the Art of Aleksandr Laktionov’, Studies in Slavic Cultures, VI (2007), pp. 82-106.

Recent events

2009: CEELBAS workshop entitled Soviet Culture in Context: Strategies of Historical Interpretation at the University of Sheffield.
2011: Blockbuster Russia Film Week, festival of contemporary film at the Showroom Cinema, Sheffield.
2012: International Conference, Socialist Realist Art: Production, Consumption and Aesthetics, Södertörn University and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 19-20 October, 2012.

Teaching

RUS105/6, RUS207/8: Russian Language Skills
RUS120: Introduction to Russian Culture
RUS230: Movements in Russian Culture
RUS330: Aspects of Post-Soviet Russian Culture
MDL201/302: Cold War Visual Culture