Illustrations for Mikhail Stelmakh's book "In the Hedgehog's Windmill" 1956

Hryhorii Havrylenko created these illustrations for Mikhail Stelmakh's book "In the Hedgehog's Windmill", though the date remains unknown. Havrylenko’s work exists within a Soviet Ukrainian artistic context, one in which artists navigated expectations of socialist realism while subtly expressing Ukrainian identity. Here we see a group of women working in the fields and children playing nearby. The artist captures a scene of collective labor, a common theme in Soviet art meant to highlight the value of communal work. These women, likely kolkhoz workers, exemplify the role of women in Soviet society, balancing labor with familial duties. Note how Havrylenko portrays a sense of community and resilience. The images evoke the complexities of identity and lived experience within the Soviet framework, where rural life was both idealized and fraught with hardship. Does Havrylenko offer us a critical lens through which to examine the narratives of progress, or is it simply reflective of the times?