'Severe style' in the Context of Soviet Studies

The article addresses problems that emerge in the interpretation of the role and the art historical signification of the 'severe style' in the Estonian context. This phenomenon, which marked an important art innovation in the late 1950s, but which later acquired the status of official art in the Khrushchev period, reveals the need for more dynamic models of analysis than offered by the opposition of official and unofficial culture. Examining the 'severe style' in the wider context of Soviet studies, the problem of the artists' agency is raised. Supported by the theoretical scheme offered by the researcher of late socialism Alexei Yurchak, the article describes, based on the example of Leili Muuga's painting 'Sceptics' (1957), the position and role of the 'severe style' in the changes in the Soviet discourse.