Art from behind the Iron Curtain

Beginning in the 1930s, most Soviet artists promoted the party doctrine, and purged their art of themes that weren?t compatible with the Communist ideology. But others refused to conform to the political orthodoxies of the regime. Norton Dodge is an economist by trade; but he began collecting non-conformist art from the USSR and befriending dissident artists. He now has the world's largest collection of underground, non-conformist art from the period, and advocates for the recognition of artists who worked in secret, putting their careers and lives at risk, to create art they believed in. Pieces from his collection are now on display at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, in an exhibit called ?From Gulag to Glasnost.?