Soviet pavilion at the 1937 Paris World's Fair

This photograph shows the Soviet pavilion at the 1937 Paris World's Fair. The tower-like structure designed by Boris Iofan, which faced the German pavilion, is crowned by the sculptural group Worker and Kolkhoz Woman by Vera Muchina (1889–1953). The muscular and dynamically striding figures bearing hammer and sickle were meant to symbolize the success of the Soviet order based on the alliance of the working class and the peasantry and the equality of the sexes. This monumental sculpture came to epitomize "Socialist Realism."

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (Paris 1937), le pavillon de l'URSS, color photograph, 1937, unknown photographer; source: Wikimedia Commons, Copyright "La Photolith", 4 rue Niépce, Paris - RCS Paris 354.012.