Renato Guttuso: Academy of Arts of the USSR, Moscow, 19 October–Mid-November 1972

Drawing on unpublished archival documents from the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI), this chapter examines Renato Guttuso’s retrospective at the Academy of Arts of the USSR in Moscow (October–November 1972), situating it within the broader framework of Italian–Soviet cultural relations during the Cold War. Rather than interpreting the exhibition solely as a celebration of Guttuso’s international prestige or political commitment, the essay reconstructs the complex negotiations between the artist and Soviet cultural authorities over the exhibition’s organization, selection of works, catalogue narrative, and ideological framing. Particular attention is devoted to the role of Soviet art historian Vladimir Goriainov, whose mediation helped reconcile Guttuso’s artistic autonomy with the expectations of the Soviet cultural establishment. The chapter also analyses the exhibition’s display strategies and the critical reception of key works, especially The Funeral of Togliatti (1972), whose first public presentation in Moscow exposed the tensions between orthodox socialist realism, Eurocommunist aspirations, and evolving Soviet cultural policies. By tracing the exhibition’s subsequent circulation across socialist Eastern Europe, the study argues that Guttuso’s Moscow retrospective functioned as both an instrument of cultural diplomacy and a site of negotiation over artistic legitimacy, political symbolism, and the transnational circulation of realist aesthetics.