Jewish agricultural colonization in the USSR: continuation.

Mendel Gorshman. "Construction site in Birobidzhan". Lithograph. 1935.
Soon after the proclamation of the Jewish Autonomous Region in 1934, OZET (Society for Settling Toiling Jews on the Land) and VsekoKhudozhnik (National Cooperative Union of Fine Arts Workers) organized a creative mission to Birobidzhan. The goal was to present to the general public the achievements of the region, accomplished since the arrival of the first settlers in 1928. The creative team included Yevgeny Lvov, Roman Gershanik, Lev Zevin, Mikhail Shteiner and Mendel Gorshman, who were later joined by two more artists already resident in Birobidzhan: Yosif Zisman and Boris Rozenblit. Despite the fact that the Jewish population in the new region did not exceed 20%, Birobidzhan continued to serve as a symbol of Jewish nation-building in the state propaganda until the end of the thirties.
The artists on the mission sought to convey the “conquest of the taiga” through landscapes emphasizing the transition from rural, untouched nature to full-fledged cities and industrial centers. Read more...