Sketch of the Costume of Tai Hoi for the Play 'Red Poppy' 1927

This is Anatol Petrytsky’s costume sketch of Tai Hoi for the play ‘Red Poppy.’ ‘Red Poppy’ premiered in 1927, a time of enormous change in Ukraine, with a drive to create a Soviet Ukrainian identity. Here, Petrytsky designs costumes for a play that exoticizes a Chinese subject, illustrating how Soviet cultural narratives could perpetuate the orientalist tropes of the West. The figures are depicted with geometric shapes and bold colors. This abstraction mirrors the avant-garde aesthetic embraced by many artists during this period. The designs can be viewed as an attempt to create a modern visual language that broke away from traditional forms. The costume design speaks to the complex intersection of cultural representation, artistic innovation, and political ideology in early Soviet Ukraine. It reflects the hopes and contradictions of a society grappling with its identity.