.
Image:Â This threesome brought
to you by the letter «Ð» (1931)
UPDATE: Apparently it was Giuliano Vivaldi behind the whole rumor that this collection was intended to “combat adult illiteracy,” as I put it here. He wrote: “I copied this from someone’s wall and added with a few exclamation marks that it was part of Stalin’s fight against illiteracy (joke intended). Since then my joke was cited as fact and traveled the internet.”
Consider me trolled! Still prefer to think of it having been conceived for that purpose.
Reproduced here are a bunch of scans from a fascinating erotic alphabet book printed in the Soviet Union circa 1931, made to combat adult illiteracy. By the sculptor and future People’s Artist of the USSR Sergei Merkurov [Сергей Меркуров], no less. For those of you who enjoyed my previous post on classic Soviet board-games from the 1920s, this should be right up your alley.
Ц, Ш
As my friend Jasmine Curcio points out, these images draw upon clear precedents in the phallic imagery of ancient Roman art. Throughout the ABC book one can find images of horny satyrs, indecent cupids, and flying disembodied cocks. Given Merkurov’s own fascination with ancient Greek and Roman art, this is hardly surprising. No doubt, all of these precedents were consciously invoked. Though it is admittedly somewhat interesting to see various dirty motifs cribbed from the style of Roman antiquity deployed for the purposes of a Soviet literacy campaign, which was itself such a distinctly modernizing project.
This should stand as definite challenge the false notion that the Soviet Union suppressed its citizens’ sexual desires, or was in the least conservative when it came to such matters. At least, not until Stalin achieved full control and instituted conservative policies. And, ironically, illustrated by the same man who’d later be commissioned by the Soviet government to sculpt a number of famous monuments to Stalin.
Ф, Ь
My friend Anna Khachiyan‘s reaction is worthy of inclusion here:
Thanks for sharing this — it is fantastic! All my years of tumblr trolling, and I’ve never seen anything nearly as good. And so artfully done, too. Alas, if only they had this much sex in real life.
But I must ask: What ever happened to the letter «Ж» in these drawings? This would be a difficult letter to navigate, sexually, but imagine the erotic possibilities!
Anyway, without further delay, some acknowledgments:
All of these great images are reposted from the brilliant Russian Livejournal account Isle of Crimea [ОÑтров Крым]. I’d also like to thank Arya Moghadam for first bringing them to my attention. Credit is also due to Agata Pyzik, who first discovered them for the Anglophone world.
Needless to say, these are not safe for work. Enjoy.
…now I know my ABCs…
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Ledo engano, quem acha que isto representa liberdade sexual, o papel das mulheres no sexo é de verdadeira submissão ao falo masculino….não a uma ação ativa da mulher, a não ser imagens dela aceitado passivamente o sexo oposto….quero uma imagem da mulher ativamente bem posicionada ai, ai, ai!!! Quanto ilusão de ótica e de valores!!!
Desde luego, es fálico y heteronormativo… pero no dejan de ser bonitas por ello
THIS!
inclusive en esta pagina estan jodiendo las putas ballenas gordas feministas de mierda… joder…
Meu nome é Ari e eu não tô nem ae…
Quer uma imagem em que a mulher não aja passivamente? Faça.
Quem te perguntou? Ninguém se importa com o que você quer. Agora, traga-me um sanduÃche.
idiota
Um m**rdoso como tu deve ter as mãos ocupadas no onanismo.
Queria isso é de 1931.
muita coisa mudou ate os dias de hj.
E o que seria essa imagem? Numa relação heterossexual, o homem é o penetrante e a mulher é a penetrada – não há como (ou por quê) mudar isso. Não se trata de mera submissão, é apenas algo natural. Se você propõe algo diferente, seja mais clara, por favor.
Qué absurdo, las relaciones entre “hombre” y “mujer” no tienen que ser coito / penetración… viva el cunnilingus !!
Viva el cunnilingus, en verdad!
Pensei a mesma coisa desde a primeira imagem
On a parallel note , wanted to share this.
http://thusspokechola.blogspot.in/2013/06/psychology-stalin-and-surnames.html
Anna should simply remove her last name, what a disgrace
soviet class
Funny
So is Ь the most reactionary character, what with the crown and spectre?
It would appear so!
Reblogged this on Иди Фри and commented:
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Curieusement, il manque quelques lettres (le e, le iat’, le tviordiï znak) à cet alphabet qui contient des caractères antérieurs à la réforme orthographique de 1917 (i, v, thêta). Une belle tentative d’érotisation généralisée du prolétariat qui, malheuresement, n’a pas eu de suite…
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Reblogged this on now there and here الآن هناك وهنا ici et là .
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This is a fantastic find! However, it does not appear to have been published at all – everything is hand painted and handwritten. Not to mention the highly unlikely event that something like this would be published for any purpose in 1931…
This link seems to be the source of the images and it indicates that it is hand-painted and in a private collection: http://www.raruss.ru/erotic/974-russian-alphabet.html
Those look like prints to me. Look at the registration issues some of them have.
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I wonder if homosexuality was acknowledged in any of these images?
It is pretty evident that in the “ménages-à -trois” homosexuality is acknowledged both for men and women. Maybe a homosexual couple is missing, I don’t know if intentionally or not, but I would rather remind that it was the beginning of the XX century: pretty much openminded and revolutionary in all senses: much more than how it is acknowledged in current sexist pornography and generally in the society of the “liberal” capitalist world.
I would ask instead something more about this fact of the fight against illiteracy. Since we have the updating above, can we know more about if this kind of alphabeth could have been intended really as “educational” and not only “artistic”? Considered that for many of the artists in Soviet Russia art had to serve the proletariat and rise the consciousness and the education, it can seem not so wandering.
Greetings to the author: I just found this blog while hanging around during my reasearches about soviet constructivism in architecture, and I find it very interesting: I will definitely go deep through it. Thank you anyway for your work.
Clearly:
https://thecharnelhouse.org/2013/03/0_746ad_fb8b81bb_orig1.jpg
HOMO SOVIETICUS
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Tem algo de equivocado. Esse alfabeto pode até ter sido feito pelo tal escultor, porém, jamais poderia ser publicado em 1931 e menos ainda patrocinado pelo Estado Soviético. Stalin promoveu uma caça a artistas que não condiziam com a estética de arte do PC soviético. Stalin jamais permitiria que tal livro fosse publicado. Imediatamente teria expurgado o escultor, o que não aconteceu. Não encontrei nenhuma fonte que realmente indicasse com precisão de que as obras são dele.
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Did you censor the first image?
It is not a publication however, but a privately produced and a privately enjoyed folly. Very strange to draw conclusions about Soviet culture based on this.
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Reblogged this on Rapid Liberal.
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Como em todos os tempos,o corpo humano e todo o erotismo que proporciona,nos remete à arte,principalmente como neste manual,onde os traços das imagens são simbólicos,tanto do nú masculino:e seu falo ereto,quanto da mulher;e suas formas redondas,sua vagina ao fundo negro da pelagem.Não há escândalo na arte,veja o Kama Sutra,indiano,portanto,livros assim devem circular livremente.
Where can I view the actual book? What the books looks like and the title? Thanks, Kel.
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Why would you say that was made to combat illiteracy? It was designed only to be a part of private collection, not for further audience.
Дебилы вÑе, кто купилÑÑ, и руÑÑкие (еÑтеÑтвенно Ñмигранты, они и иÑтории Ñвоей не знают) в первую очередь. Смотрите в алфавит, и, ежели не проÑÑнÑетÑÑ Ð¼Ð¾Ð·Ð³, Ñмотрите иÑторию руÑÑкого алфавита в веках! Рпотом на буквы Ñмотрите!!! Ðто – проÑто кто то поÑтебалÑÑ. Ð’Ñе доверчивые. Французы, итальÑнцы, немцы – напиÑали – рад поверить!!! Как Ñ Ð²Ð¾Ð¹Ð½Ð¾Ð¹ в Грузии… Современный руÑÑкийалфавит ÑущеÑтвует Ñ 1918 года!!! Ежели такое нариÑовали, то только до революции!
If you check out the original source (http://www.raruss.ru/erotic/974-russian-alphabet.html), you can find the missing letters!
Reblogged this on solisio.
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Hi! This can’t be a Soviet era thing, because this alphabet was no longer in use after 1918! If it was done in 1931- than it was made by immigrants. Not that I don’t find this amusing- but nothing like this could be published in USSR after 1925. It could be printed privately, though (people were doing it, as it’s not really complicated).
It was printed privately, only intended by the author for this end. And the alphabet was reformed by the Bolsheviks, as you say, but many of these letters remained in use for Ukrainian and Belarusian texts.
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How can you say that this would be banned by Stalin when Stalin was in power in 1931? That makes no sense.
It couldn’t have been published officially, if only because the alphabet here is pre-Revolutionary. It’s a shame, really, a terrible shame to publish something that is destined to go viral at your site and make such ignorant blunders. Of course, even the official media outlets do it these days. But oh well, at least we can still try to check our sources.
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Reblogged this on georgiancitizens and commented:
Soviet-era erotic alphabet book from 1931
Here you can check the full handpainted book, including the Ж letter as well as some other letters in use before the Revolution (Ѣ)
http://www.raruss.ru/images/flippingbook/flipping-book/mercurov.html
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This is not Russian. It was drawn by a Russian artist, but some letters are not from Russian alphabet. It can be Greek or something.
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Reblogged this on Art for Books.
Reblogged this on sideshowtog.
The Soviet Erotic Alphabet now is available in Print!
“Featuring over 35 full color prints of naked men, women, satyrs, and disembodied penises with wings arranged to depict Cyrillic characters as inventive sex positions, this alphabet-primer-turned-sexual-playbook will make for a delightfully naughty conversation piece on the coffee table of the sexually liberated household.”
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Erotic-Soviet-Alphabet-Sergei-Merkurov/dp/1626541388/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1433449297&sr=8-3&keywords=soviet+erotic
Direct from publisher: http://www.echopointbooks.com/product/the-erotic-soviet-alphabet/
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Reblogged this on The Insomniac Libertarian.