socialist realism

noun

Definition of socialist realism

: a Marxist aesthetic theory calling for the didactic use of literature, art, and music to develop social consciousness in an evolving socialist state

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socialist realist

noun or adjective

Recent Examples of socialist realism from the Web

The Nazis forced the Bauhaus out of Dessau in 1932, and in the same year the Soviet Union dissolved independent artists’ unions and promulgated the single style of socialist realism.

— jason farago, New York Times, "Picasso in 1932: Ingenious, Exhausting, Relentless," 2 Apr. 2018
Not some ideological socialist realism, but the day to day unprettified round of ordinary life.

— The Economist, "Milos Forman died on April 13th," 21 Apr. 2018
This show is a bit too light on Tarsila’s later work, concentrating on the genesis moment of Brazilian Modernism in the 1920s, rather than her 1930s engagement with socialist realism, a genre MoMA has always shied away from.

— jason farago, New York Times, "She Led Latin American Art in a Bold New Direction," 15 Feb. 2018
In the thirties and forties, in ways that became art-world conventional wisdom, some critics equated regionalism with the blood-and-soil mystique of Nazism and/or socialist realism.

— steven strogatz, The New Yorker, "Beyond “American Gothic”," 5 Mar. 2018
Three Songs About Lenin (1934), Lullaby (1937), and The Three Heroines (1938) all hewed to the Stalinist party line, though Vertov's abiding sense of reverie left him out of step with the socialist realism of the era.

— j.r. jones, Chicago Reader, "Ten best bets for fall movie releases," 15 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'socialist realism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.