The Method of Socialist Realism in International Relations: The Cases of Ukrainian and Ethiopian Art Education

Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis

Abstract

To better implement the method of Socialist Realism, which was adopted as the official artistic standard by the Ethiopian regime established in 1974, young professionals received scholarships to study in socialist countries. This paper analyzes Soviet-Ethiopian international relations through the specific case of the Kyiv State Art Institute that hosted foreign students sent by referral from Moscow. By tracing the lives and studies of Ethiopian students in Kyiv during the 1980s, the article draws institutional and aesthetical parallels between the Ethiopian and Ukrainian art schools operating under the policy of Socialist Realism and questions the long-term consequences for the cultural development of both countries.