Making a Hero

Posters, Headlines, and a Monument | Iurii Gagarin, Son of Russia

Gagarin's single orbit aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961 was celebrated immediately and for years after. Newspapers gave over their front pages, posters saluted the party and, in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova. Mikhail Khmelko painted the cosmonaut's return, and Moscow later raised a monument. Painters in Palekh, whose lacquer miniatures descend from icon work, made Gagarin a son of Russia.

Posters, Headlines, and a Monument

Boris Berezovsky, KPSS – Glory! (1962) Glory to the First Woman-Cosmonaut (1963) Greeting the First Cosmonaut Back to Earth (1961) Iurii Gagarin Monument, Moscow Tereshkova Flight (1963)

Iurii Gagarin, Son of Russia

Thanks to John McCannon, Long Island University, for these examples of the folk art commemorating Gagarin's flight. These lacquer boxes made in the famous village of Palekh were among the countless examples of state-inspired but popular expressions of pride in the Russian cosmonaut.

Iurii Gagarin - Son of Russia Iurii Gagarin - Son of Russia Iurii Gagarin - Son of Russia Iurii Gagarin - Son of Russia Iurii Gagarin - Son of Russia Iurii Gagarin - Son of Russia
1961

Anti-Parasite Law Bratsk Bulat Okudzhava Corn Campaign Fight Against Superstition First Cosmonaut Khrushchev on the Arts The Khrushchev Slums Moral Code of the Builder of Communism Novocherkassk Massacre Thaw Poets