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Life-size Lenin among Soviet art up for auction

Wotton Auction Rooms A painting of Lenin on a black background with some painted foliage - leaves and red flowers.Wotton Auction Rooms
Soviet Union founder Lenin is depicted in a huge portrait

A life-size portrait of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin and other paintings from the former state are going up for auction.

Described as "monumental", they will be up for sale at Wotton Auction Rooms in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire on Tuesday and Wednesday after the collection was revealed in the Cotswolds.

The auction house's managing director, Joseph Trinder said the paintings, which date from the 1920s to the early 1990s, "were essentially works of propaganda".

The artworks are being auctioned as separate lots with estimates starting at hundreds of pounds depending on size.

Wotton Auction Rooms A painting showing soldiers, one holding a large red flag, beneath a red-coloured building and archway, in the midst of action.Wotton Auction Rooms
'Bolsheviks Storming the Winter Palace' is one of the large paintings for sale

As well as the life-size portrait of Lenin, there is a scene of 'Bolsheviks Storming the Winter Palace' in 1917 and a painting of Soviet troops having 'A rest after battle' during World War Two.

Mr Trinder explained they came from a "rather remarkable" single-owner collection.

"They are essentially works of propaganda that were put together to communicate the ideas and principles of the Soviet era and to promote Lenin and his vision," he said.

Wotton Auction Rooms Joseph Trinder looks into the camera, wearing a check shirt and green gilet, while standing beside the tall painting of Lenin, which is quite a lot larger than him, to show its scale.Wotton Auction Rooms
Joseph Trinder from the auction house called the collection "remarkable"

Three of the paintings are from the Socialist Realist School, founded in the 1930s.

Mr Trinder said they would have been displayed publicly as "essentially civic works".

They were designed to show an audience "the ideals of the communist message".

More Soviet Union paintings will also be auctioned in March.

Wotton Auction Rooms A painting of a group of soldiers in a forest in the snow - they are all in thick winter coats and wear winter hats with the communist symbol. They are standing and sitting in a group, smiling in conversation.Wotton Auction Rooms
'A rest after battle' is another painting being auctioned

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