Over the past 20 years, the attitude towards socialist realism in Russia has changed multiple times. After the fall of the USSR, the art of Soviet painters was harshly criticized – in the 1990s they were blamed for every possible sin, while the Soviet painting itself was unexpectedly considered “opportunistic” and openly weak. Ten years later, interest in socialist realism began to gradually resurge: one almost got the impression that art critics and exhibition attendees suddenly had their eyes opened. People once again began to admire the works of the classics in soviet painting, it became popular to collect them and the prices for such works at auctions started to climb rapidly. Both state museums and private galleries began to organize shows that were always a hit with viewers.
One especially bright exhibition was the “Soviet Venus” exhibited in 2007 in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. The success
Article source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_12_18/The-gender-issue-in-socialist-realism/