The face of a woman depicted on a propaganda poster during the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War“The Motherland is calling!” is familiar to everyone. The main task of the artist Irakli Toidze was to create a generalized image of a woman-mother, in which every soldier could see his mother. Nevertheless, this image-symbol had real prototype– Tamara Toidze.

The poster was created at the very beginning of the war, a few days after the invasion of German troops, in June 1941. At that time, many similar propaganda posters and patriotic songs appeared, designed to inspire people to fight the enemy. However, it was this poster that became the most popular and recognizable.

Artist Irakli Toidze

The hereditary Georgian artist Irakli Toidze at that time had already become famous as an illustrator - he was the author of drawings for the poem “The Knight in tiger skin" According to his stories, he was just working on them when on June 22, 1941, his wife, Tamara Toidze, ran into the room shouting: “War!” With her hand she instinctively pointed to the open door, from behind which could be heard messages about the beginning of the war from the Sovinformburo, transmitted over the street loudspeaker. This gesture inspired the artist to create the poster. “Stay there and don’t move!” - he then asked his wife and immediately began to make sketches. Tamara was 37 years old at that time, but she looked much younger, and in order to create a generalized image of her mother, the artist depicted a woman older than the prototype.

Tamara Toidze

According to the artist’s son, the artist borrowed the words “Motherland” from the work of his favorite poet Andrei Bely. In the collection of his poems, Irakli Toidze underlined the lines with a pencil: “Let me, O Motherland, in the deaf, damp expanse, in your expanse, let me weep.”

The poster was ready by the end of the month and was reproduced in millions of copies. It was posted all over the country - at train stations and collection points, in factories and factories, on walls and fences. The idea of ​​the poster was so close and understandable to everyone that the soldiers wore small reproductions of it the size of a postcard in the breast pockets of their tunics, and if they had to hand them over locality to the fascists, the fighters, retreating, tore off the posters “with mom” and took them away with them.

French poster from the First World War. Fragment

Today, some researchers have expressed doubts about the time and circumstances of the creation of this poster. Some of them claim that “Motherland” was created even before the start of the war, while others claim that Toidze borrowed the gesture of calling for action not from his wife, but from the authors of already existing foreign propaganda posters on military theme. Still others are sure that the raised and drawn back hand is a characteristic gesture of emotional Georgian women.

Propaganda posters of France, Greece, USSR, division *Galicia*, USA

Be that as it may, the power of influence of “Motherland” was extraordinary: the poster inspired people just like the song “Holy War”. This would hardly have been possible if the artist had created only a portrait of his wife. The image was indeed a collective one, which is confirmed by the artist’s son: “The image of the woman from the poster, of course, is largely generalized. My mother was very beautiful, but my father simplified her image and made it clear to everyone...” That is why this image became a real symbol of that era and the strength of spirit of the people who rose up to fight fascism.

Poster *Motherland is calling!*. Fragment

The face of the woman depicted on the famous propaganda poster from the Great Patriotic War “The Motherland is Calling!” is familiar to everyone. The main task of the artist Irakli Toidze was to create a generalized image of a woman-mother, in which every soldier could see his mother. Nevertheless, this image-symbol had a real prototype - Tamara Toidze.

The poster was created a few days after the invasion of German troops into the USSR, in June 1941. At that time, many similar propaganda posters and patriotic songs appeared, designed to inspire people to fight the enemy. But it was this poster that was destined to become a symbol of the era and inspire millions of people to perseverance and courage.

The hereditary Georgian artist Irakli Toidze had already become famous as an illustrator at that time - he was the author of the drawings for the poem “The Knight in the Skin of a Tiger.” According to his stories, he was just working on them when on June 22, 1941, his wife, Tamara Toidze, ran into the room shouting: “War!”

With her hand she instinctively pointed to the open door, from behind which could be heard messages about the beginning of the war from the Sovinformburo, transmitted over the street loudspeaker. This gesture inspired the artist to create the poster. “Stay there and don’t move!” - he then asked his wife and immediately began to make sketches. Tamara was 37 years old at that time, but she looked much younger, and in order to create a generalized image of her mother, the artist depicted a woman older than the prototype.

According to the artist’s son, the artist borrowed the words “Motherland” from the work of his favorite poet Andrei Bely. In the collection of his poems, Irakli Toidze underlined the lines with a pencil: “Let me, O Motherland, in the deaf, damp expanse, in your expanse, let me weep.”

The poster was ready by the end of the month and was reproduced in millions of copies. It was posted all over the country - at train stations and collection points, in factories and factories, on walls and fences. The idea of ​​the poster was so close and understandable to everyone that the soldiers carried its reduced reproductions the size of a postcard in the breast pockets of their tunics, and if they had to surrender a settlement to the Nazis, the soldiers, retreating, tore off the posters “with mom” and took them with them.

Today, some researchers have expressed doubts about the time and circumstances of the creation of this poster. Some of them claim that “Motherland” was created even before the start of the war, while others claim that Toidze borrowed the gesture of calling for action not from his wife, but from the authors of already existing foreign propaganda posters on military themes. Still others are sure that the raised and drawn back hand is a characteristic gesture of emotional Georgian women.

Propaganda posters of France, Greece, USSR, Galicia division, USA

Be that as it may, the power of influence of “Motherland” was extraordinary: the poster inspired people just like the song “Holy War”. This would hardly have been possible if the artist had created only a portrait of his wife. The image was indeed a collective one, which is confirmed by the artist’s son: “The image of the woman from the poster, of course, is largely generalized. My mother was very beautiful, but my father simplified her image and made it clear to everyone...” That is why this image became a real symbol of that era and the strength of spirit of the people who rose up to fight fascism.

03/17/2004 Woman's face war. Poster ""The Motherland - Mother Calls!""

""Dear Editor! I am sending you a postcard “The Motherland is Calling!” and a photograph of my mother Anna Ivanovna Tsibizova. The photograph was taken with the "Tourist" camera in 1941. This is the story. In the morning, my mother went to buy bread cards at the bakery on the corner of Ostozhenka and 1st Zachatievsky Lane. In the morning, my mother stood in line for bread. The artist, out of everyone in the queue, chose her to pose in the studio. Then my mother told me about this incident. She was dressed in a dark robe and tied with a light brown shawl.

From Vladimir Akimovich Tsibizov, Veteran of the Great Patriotic War.

Alas, we have to disappoint the author of the letter: the woman depicted on the poster “The Motherland is Calling!” has a real and only prototype. However, everything is in order.

""In my little pocket there is your card...""

The author of the poster ""The Motherland - Mother Calls!"" is a famous Soviet artist Irakli Moiseevich Toidze, many years after the end of the Great Patriotic War, told a story he heard from a front-line soldier he knew.

"Our troops defended the city from superior enemy forces. And as happened quite often in the first months of the war, the city could not be defended. When the soldiers were leaving the city, one soldier, seeing a poster on the wall of a dilapidated house, exclaimed: “What about my mother?” He fell behind his comrades, took the poster off the wall, neatly folded it and, putting it under his tunic, rushed to catch up with his subdivision. And then an enemy bullet overtook him...""

This incident is very symbolic: it speaks of the enormous emotional impact that the poster had on front-line soldiers. It seems that the influence on people of this work and, perhaps, the song "" Holy war"" was much stronger than the conversations of political instructors on the topic: why and why it is necessary to defend the Motherland...

Created in the early days, the poster ""The Motherland - Mother Calls!"" was reproduced in multi-million copies, and in different formats. A reproduction from it, smaller than even a postcard, was kept by front-line soldiers on their chests, next to their party and Kosomol membership cards, with photographs of mothers, wives, brides and children...""

Many-faced image...

I met with the artist’s son Alexander Iraklievich. This is what he said: “My father was very fond of the poet Andrei Bely, the author of the poem “The Tramp.” In the book of poems, some lines are underlined by my father’s hand, and among them there is this: “Allow me, O Motherland - Mother, in your deaf, damp expanse, to weep in your expanse...” I think that maybe this image is taken from there...

And the story of the creation of the poster is this: Mom ran into her father’s workshop shouting: “War!” “Stand there and don’t move!” he answered her. A few days later the poster was ready. On that June morning, in that stunning moment, Tamara became the personification of all women - young and old, who had the difficult fate of seeing off their sons to war that day. And this gesture, which she, a Russian woman, unnoticed by herself, adopted from her husband’s fellow countrymen - Georgian women, and which was so familiar to him, helped the artist create his best creation...

History has shown that Irakli Toidze was right. ""The Motherland is Calling!"" is not a portrait of the artist's wife. This is a portrait of the Mother, in which each of us, looking carefully, will find the features of a face dear to him...

The poster “The Motherland is Calling” was drawn by artist Irakli Toidze in June 1941. The meaning of the image on the poster was that a woman (Motherland Mother, a collective image of a mother) calls her sons for help, to stand up for defense native land. The image of the “Motherland” later became one of the most widespread images of Soviet propaganda.

“Motherland” is one of the most famous propaganda posters in history Soviet Union, the circulations in which it was printed are simply enormous. The background to its creation is very simple, but no less interesting. The poster was born in the first days following the attack of the Nazi troops of Hitler's Third Reich on the Soviet Union.

The declaration of war was broadcast on all radio channels of the state, so that every resident of the country heard about this terrible news. The artist Irakli Toidze, the future creator of this masterpiece, was no exception. As he admitted over time, the idea of ​​what the poster would look like came to the author completely by accident. Toidze learned about the German attack from the words of his wife.

On the morning of June 22, 1941, the year after the announcement of the Soviet Information Bureau, the artist’s excited wife ran into his studio with only one word: “War!”

The amazed Toidze, seeing all the horror and calm determination on his woman’s face, immediately asked her to freeze in place. It was his wife who inspired the artist to create the poster. On it he depicted an ordinary woman in a simple red dress, which should symbolize the image of Mother Russia.

In her hands, the Motherland holds the oath, the taking of which was mandatory before being sent to the front to fight the troops of the German occupiers.

Behind the woman, many bayonets are visible, which symbolizes the powerful force behind the entire country. The poster had its effect: for many conscripts, the poster became an additional incentive, and they tried to sign up as volunteers to be sent to the front as quickly as possible.

Here we can see some continuity in the heroine of the poster, similar ones to which were already used during the first war, as well as during the Civil War between the Red Army and the remnants of the White Guard troops.

Irakli Toidze created a number of propaganda posters during the war years. On one of them he depicted a woman with a child in her arms, the images of which were copied from his wife Tamara and son Sandro. The poster was called “For the Motherland!”

But the story of the image of the Motherland, of course, did not end there; the artist turned to it again in 1959 in connection with the beginning of the era of space exploration. The poster is called “In the Name of Peace”, 1959. She again calls for peace, only now in the vastness of space; time will tell whether people will hear it and understand it, while the militarization of space continues

IN modern society there was also a place this image. There are numerous interpretations of the image and parodies of this poster in fine arts, sculpture, folk art, advertising.

After the war, the artist Irakli Toidze made ten more original reproductions of the poster for various museums, but the original is kept in Tretyakov Gallery. For some, the poster became an example of Soviet military propaganda. For others - the Motherland - a mother who needs to be defended and protected. For still others, it is a public stamp that is associated with Soviet period. Eternal image always remains a reflection of the time in which it is applied.

Soviet propaganda poster “The Motherland is Calling!” created in July 1941. The author of the poster is Irakly Moiseevich TOIDZE (1902-1985). According to the artist, the idea of ​​creating collective image of a mother calling her sons for help came to his mind completely by accident. Hearing the first message from the Sovinformburo about the attack fascist Germany in the USSR, his wife Tamara ran into his workshop shouting “War!” Struck by the expression on her face, the artist immediately began sketching the future masterpiece.

The son of Irakli Moiseevich recalls: “The poster hung at assembly points and train stations, at the entrances of factories and military trains, in kitchens, in houses and on fences. For soldiers and officers, he became a portrait of the Mother, in which everyone saw the features of the face dear to him... Mother said that, having heard the message of the Sovinformburo about the attack of the Nazis, she was terribly afraid for the children... Apparently, the expression on her face was such that the father exclaimed: “Stay there and don’t move!”... Mom stood at the window and posed. Her raised hand kept getting numb.” “The image of the woman from the poster is, of course, largely generalized. The mother was very beautiful, but the father simplified her image, made it clear to everyone...”

Irakli TOIDZE, many years after the end of the Great Patriotic War, told a story he heard from a front-line soldier he knew. Our troops defended the city from superior enemy forces. And, as happened quite often in the first months of the war, the city could not be defended. When the soldiers left him, one soldier, seeing a poster on the wall of a dilapidated house, exclaimed: “What about my mother?!” He fell behind his comrades, took the poster off the wall, carefully folded it and, putting it under his tunic, rushed to catch up with his unit. And then an enemy bullet hit him. This incident is very symbolic: it speaks of the enormous emotional impact that the poster had on front-line soldiers.

In Viktor SUVOROV’s book “M-Day” there is an assumption that the poster was created before the war and was sent out in large quantities in secret packages to military commissariats in December 1940 with instructions to open it on M-Day. The author does not provide any documented evidence. Such an assumption should be treated as an artistic fantasy that does not have specific historical confirmation. But it is absolutely known that the earliest of the signal copies stored in the Russian state library, dated July 4, 1941.

The text of the military oath on the poster reads:

“I, a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, joining the ranks of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, take the oath and solemnly swear to be an honest, brave, disciplined, vigilant fighter, strictly keep military and state secrets, unquestioningly carry out all military regulations and orders of commanders and superiors .
I swear to conscientiously study military affairs, to protect military and national property in every possible way, and to be devoted to my People, my Soviet Motherland and the Workers' and Peasants' Government.
I am always ready, by order of the Workers' and Peasants' Government, to defend my Motherland - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and, as a warrior of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, I swear to defend it courageously, skillfully, with dignity and honor, not sparing my blood and life itself for achieving complete victory over enemies.
If, out of malicious intent, I violate this solemn oath of mine, then let the severe punishment of Soviet law befall me, universal hatred and the contempt of the working people."

KARTASHEV L. “Moscow, 1941.” 1983

PRISEKIN Sergey Nikolaevich (1958-2018) “Portrait of A.V. Alexandrova". 2008
Canvas, oil.

KORZHEV Geliy Mikhailovich (1925-2012) “In the days of war.” 1952-1954
State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan, Tashkent.

SEVOSTYANOV Gennady Kirillovich (1938-2003) “Anxious 1941.” 2002
Canvas, oil. 120 x 90 cm.
Private collection.

ZHABSKY Alexey Alexandrovich (1933-2008) “1941. At the military registration and enlistment office." 1990
Canvas, oil. 100 x 126 cm.

TITOV Vladimir Gerasimovich (1921-1997) “Letters”. 1970

SHERSTNEV Vasily Alekseevich (b. 1958) “1941.”

NESTERKOV Vladimir Evgenievich (1959) “Good news of August 1943.” 2011

SAVOSTYANOV Fedor Vasilievich (1924-2012), co-authors B.V. Kotik, N.M. Kutuzov, K.G. Molteninov, V.I. Seleznev, Yu.A. Garikov, L.V. Zucchini. "Breaking the blockade of Leningrad." Fragment of a diorama.