"After a month-long lockdown, the museums in Minnesota are finally starting to reopen. My partner and I were among the first in line last weekend to check out "Leaders and the Masses: Mega Paintings from Soviet Ukraine," a newly extended exhibition at the excellent Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis. The two-floor show features 37 enormous social realist paintings—some of the largest such canvases in existence. (One of them measures a whopping 14 by 19 feet.) The artworks depict the likes of Stalin, Lenin, and Khrushchev, as well as everyday collective workers, and many have never been shown in the United States. Of course, no visit to the museum would be complete without a spin through its delightful gift shop, which sells everything from samovar tea to chic telnyashka, striped military shirts worn by Soviet sailors and paratroopers in the 20th century. The exhibit runs through February 7."
