.
Happy Bastille Day, everyone. To celebrate, here are some assorted artworks by early Soviet sculptors and painters commemorating the Great French Revolution.
We begin with two pieces from the years immediately following the October Revolution. One of these, of course, is the sculptor Nikolai Andreev’s frightening Head of Danton (1919). Less well known are the memorials to M. Robespierre (1918 & 1920) by Beatrice Sandomirskaia [БеатриÑе СандомирÑкаÑ] and Sarra Lebedeva.
Unveiling of Nikolai Andreev’s “Head of Danton” (1919) «Голова Дантона», 1919 г. Ð. Ðндреев
.
Still more remarkable, though from a slightly later date, is the set of illustrations by the Bolshevik artist Mikhail Sokolov depicting the principal actors and main events of the last great bourgeois revolution. These were intended as part of a volume entitled Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934), and are reproduced below alongside some of the historical representations on which Sokolov’s work was based.
Mikhail Sokolov, “Bailly [Байи],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Mirabeau [Мирабо],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Lafayette [Лафайетт],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Historical depiction of the Marquis de Lafayette
Mikhail Sokolov, “Danton [Дантон],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Danton [Дантон],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “General Lazare Hoche [Гош],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Historical depiction of the revolutionary general Louis-Lazare Hoche
Mikhail Sokolov, “Camille Desmoulins [Демулен],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “General Jacques Cathelineau [Кателино],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Historical depiction of Jacques Cathelineau
The flight of the king
Mikhail Sokolov, “Jean-Paul Marat [Марат],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Jean-Paul Marat [Марат],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Historical depiction of Jean-Paul Marat
Mikhail Sokolov, Marat’s murderess “Charlotte Corday [Шарлотт Корде],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Jean-Marie Collot d’Herbois [Колло д-Ðрбуа],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Maximilien Robespierre [РобеÑпьер],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Maximilien Robespierre [РобеÑпьер],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Historical representation of Robespierre
Mikhail Sokolov, “Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just [Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just [Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just [Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès [СийеÑ],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Mikhail Sokolov, “Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès [СийеÑ],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Historical depiction of Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
Mikhail Sokolov, “Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon [Симон],” from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)
Historical depiction of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon
Summary: A vivid portrayal of several of history’s greatest revolutionaries.
Rating: ★★★★☆
The 1983 film Danton actually came out of a project originating in the Polish Solidarity Movement.  It had been intended as a collaboration between a largely Polish cast and a French production company, Gaumont, which, because of the Soviet-led coup in 1981, was forced to move its entire base of operations back to Paris.  Despite such difficulties, the film’s “execution” is masterful.  The cinematography is flawless; even better is the soundtrack, which included bits used for Kubrick’s “Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite” sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Wojciech Pszoniak’s portrayal of the tormented Robespierre, a man unyielding in his conviction that the Republic must be upheld, but whose ideals are hopelessly compromised by the Committee for Public Safety’s increasingly despotic regime of terror, is outstanding. Â The figure of Danton, whose role is no less demanding, is presented as simultaneously the victorious hero of August 10, 1790 and the defeated martyr of 1794. Â His character brims with masculinity, and yet retains an air of tragic fragility. Â The cruel drama of Camille Desmoulins, the last member of the Convention to whom Robespierre had any sort of sentimental attachment, along with Desmoulins’ wife and young child, is depicted tastefully, without maudlin overtones. Â Saint-Just, a minor character in the affair, is shown in all of his boyish revolutionary bloodlust.
If any objections were to be raised against the film, they would perhaps center on the outlandishly over-the-top representation of the Committee for Public Safety. Â They are shown as wild-eyed, deranged sociopaths, sweating profusely beneath the deathly pallor of their lead-based foundation. Â The monstrosity of the Committee is accentuated absurdly by one of the members shown in a crude, half-rusted, and primitive wheelchair contraption, with sudden and violent motions spinning along the way.
Opening of a Monument to Danton in 1919, RFSFR
Leonard Quart, in his official essay on the film for the Criterion Collection, explains the historical origins of the drama: “The film was based on the play The Danton Affair, by StanisÅ‚awa Przybyszewska, first performed in 1931. Przybyszewska was a Communist whose sympathies lay with the radical Robespierre. Wajda revived the play in 1975, but he turned it on its head, making a hero out of the more moderate Danton.”  Quart continues:
 Still, even more generally, so much of what is depicted can be seen as prophetic of how later totalitarian governments ruled, including Robespierre’s use of the secret police and informers to intimidate a restive public and arrest dissenters; the extraction of confessions of nefarious plots from Danton’s followers; and a show trial where normal procedures are suspended and Danton is stopped from defending himself or calling witnesses. There is also a striking sequence where Robespierre, wrapped in the robes of Caesar while posing for a heroic portrait by the painter David, tells him to delete one figure, a man he has condemned, from a painting of the Revolution’s early leaders [the unfinished Tennis Court Oath] — like Stalin erasing Trotsky from the history of the Russian Revolution.
Yet, as Trotsky himself attested, Stalin was more a Bonaparte than he was a Robespierre. Â Stalin did not even have half the revolutionary credentials of Robespierre, let alone a direct hero and leader like Danton or Trotsky.
I had seen the movie once before, but recently rewatched it at the excellent film screening accompanying Platypus’ Radical Bourgeois Summer Reading Group.
Danton’s famous speech to the Revolutionary Tribunal, in which he declares that “the Revolution is like hungry Saturn, devouring its children”
You can download a Blu-Ray edition of Danton for free using the data at the following sites.  I highly recommend a downloading program like JDownloader to automatically extract them.  Just copy the URLs en masse and they will be placed on your download list:
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Bailly [Байи]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0b1d0b0d0b9d0b8-bailly-d181d0bed0bad0bed0bbd0bed0b2.jpg?w=108&h=146&ssl=1 "Байи.-Bailly Соколов")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Mirabeau [Мирабо]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0bcd0b8d180d0b0d0b1d0be-mirabo-d181d0bed0bad0bed0bbd0bed0b2.jpg?w=86&h=146&ssl=1 "Мирабо.-Mirabo Соколов")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Lafayette [Лафайетт]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0bbd0b0d184d0b0d0b9d0b5d182d182-d181d0bed0bad0bed0bbd0bed0b2.jpg?w=104&h=146&ssl=1 "Лафайетт. Соколов")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Danton [Дантон]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i1.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0b4d0b0d0bdd182d0bed0bd-1-danton.jpg?w=136&h=222&ssl=1 "Дантон.-1.-Danton")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Danton [Дантон]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i2.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0b4d0b0d0bdd182d0bed0bd-2-danton.jpg?w=141&h=222&ssl=1 "Дантон-2.-Danton")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "General Lazare Hoche [Гош]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0b3d0bed188-hoche.jpg?w=151&h=222&ssl=1 "Гош-Hoche")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Camille Desmoulins [Демулен]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/6-d0b4d0b5d0bcd183d0bbd0b5d0bd.jpg?w=83&h=123&ssl=1 "6.-Демулен.")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "General Jacques Cathelineau [Кателино]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i2.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0bad0b0d182d0b5d0bbd0b8d0bdd0be-1-catellinot.jpg?w=96&h=123&ssl=1 "Кателино-1..-Catellinot")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Jean-Paul Marat [Марат]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0bcd0b0d180d0b0d182-1-marat.jpg?w=106&h=152&ssl=1 "Марат-1.-Marat")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Jean-Paul Marat [Марат]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0bcd0b0d180d0b0d182-marat-2.jpg?w=90&h=152&ssl=1 "Марат.-Marat-2")
![Mikhail Sokolov, Marat's murderess "Charlotte Corday [Шарлотт Корде]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0bad0bed180d0b4d0b5-d188d0b0d180d0bbd0bed182d182d0b0.jpg?w=103&h=152&ssl=1 "Шарлотта Корде")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois [Колло д-Ðрбуа]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i2.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0bad0bed0bbd0bbd0be-d0b4-d18dd180d0b1d183d0b0-collot.jpg?w=142&h=205&ssl=1 "Колло-д-Ðрбуа.-Collot")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Maximilien Robespierre [РобеÑпьер]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d180d0bed0b1d0b5d181d0bfd18cd0b5d180-2-robespierre.jpg?w=138&h=205&ssl=1 "РобеÑпьер-2.-Robespierre-")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Maximilien Robespierre [РобеÑпьер]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i2.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/8-d180d0bed0b1d0b5d181d0bfd18cd0b5d180.jpg?w=148&h=205&ssl=1 "8.-РобеÑпьер")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just [Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i2.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d181d0b5d0bd-d0b6d18ed181d182-1-saint-just.jpg?w=104&h=135&ssl=1 "Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚-1-Saint-Just")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just [Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d181d0b5d0bd-d0b6d18ed181d182-saint-just-2.jpg?w=93&h=135&ssl=1 "Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚.-Saint-Just-2")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just [Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i1.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d181d0b5d0bd-d0b6d18ed181d182-3.jpg?w=94&h=135&ssl=1 "Сен-ЖюÑÑ‚-3.")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès [СийеÑ]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d181d0b8d0b9d0b5d181-1.jpg?w=219&h=323&ssl=1 "СийеÑ-1 Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès [СийеÑ]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d181d0b8d0b9d0b5d181-d0bad0bed0bdd181d183d0bb-2-sieyes.jpg?w=213&h=323&ssl=1 "СийеÑ.-конÑул-2-Sieyes")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon [Симон]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i2.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d181d0b8d0bcd0bed0bd-simon.jpg?w=102&h=149&ssl=1 "Симон.-Simon")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Barthélemy Catherine Joubert [Жубер]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i2.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0b6d183d0b1d0b5d180-joubert.jpg?w=103&h=149&ssl=1 "Жубер.-Joubert")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte [Бернадотт]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i0.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0b1d0b5d180d0bdd0b0d0b4d0bed182d182-bernadotte.jpg?w=228&h=265&ssl=1 "Бернадотт.-Bernadotte")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte [Бернадотт]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i1.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d182-d0bcd183d0b6d187d0b8d0bdd0b0-d0b2-d188d0bbd18fd0bfd0b5-1930-d0b5.jpg?w=103&h=141&ssl=1 "Т.-Мужчина-в-шлÑпе.-1930-е")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "François-Noël (Gracchus) Babeuf [Бабёф]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i1.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0b1d0b0d0b1d191d184-babeuf.jpg?w=154&h=219&ssl=1 "Бабёф.-Babeuf")
![Mikhail Sokolov, "Roger Ducos [Дюко]," from Figures of the 1789 French Revolution (1930-1934)](https://i2.wp.com/testing.thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/d0b4d18ed0bad0be-d0bad0bed0bdd181d183d0bb-ducos.jpg?w=150&h=219&ssl=1 "Дюко-КонÑул-Ducos")
