The face of the woman depicted on the propaganda poster of the times of the Great Patriotic War “The Motherland Calls!” 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 at the very beginning of the war, a few days after the German invasion, in June 1941. In those days, there were many similar propaganda posters and patriotic songs 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 the Panther's 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 came messages about the beginning of the war of the Sovinformburo, transmitted through a street loudspeaker. This gesture inspired the artist to create the poster. "Stand still and don't move!" - he then asked his wife and immediately began to make sketches. Tamara at that time was 37 years old, 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: “Allow me, O Motherland, to sob into the deaf, damp expanse, into your expanse.”
The poster was ready by the end of the month and was printed in millions of copies. It was pasted all over the country - at railway stations and assembly 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 hand over the settlement to the Nazis, the soldiers, retreating, tore off the posters “with mom” and took them away with them.
French poster from World War I. Fragment
Today, some researchers express doubts about the time and circumstances of the creation of this poster. Some of them claim that the "Motherland" was created before the start of the war, and others that Toidze borrowed the call to action gesture not from his wife, but from the authors of already existing foreign propaganda posters on military topics. Still others are sure that the raised and pulled back hand is a characteristic gesture of emotional Georgian women.
Propaganda posters of France, Greece, USSR, divisions *Galicia*, USA
Be that as it may, the power of influence of the "Motherland" was extraordinary: the poster inspired people in the same way as the song "Holy War". It would hardly have been possible if the artist had created only a portrait of his wife. The image was really collective, which is also confirmed by the artist's son: “The image of a woman from a poster, of course, is largely generalized. Mother was very beautiful, but her father simplified her image, made it clear to everyone ... ". That is why this image has become a real symbol of that era and the strength of the spirit of the people who rose to fight against fascism.
Poster *Motherland is calling!*. Fragment
AUTHOR of the poster "Motherland is calling!" the 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 left him, one soldier, seeing a poster on the wall of a dilapidated house, exclaimed: “But what about my mother ?!”. He lagged behind his comrades, removed the poster from the wall, carefully folded it and, putting it under his tunic, rushed to catch up with his unit. And then an enemy bullet got him ...
This case is very symbolic: it speaks of the enormous emotional impact that the poster had on the front-line soldiers. It seems that the influence of this work and, perhaps, the song “Holy War” on people was much stronger than the conversations of political officers on the topic of why and why it is necessary to defend the Motherland ...
Created in the first days of the war, the poster "The Motherland Calls!" It has been reproduced in millions of copies and in various formats. Front-line soldiers kept a reproduction of it smaller than even a postcard on their chests next to a party or Komsomol ticket, with photographs of mothers, brides, children ...
I MET with the artist's son Alexander Iraklievich. Here's 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 one: “Allow me, O Motherland, to sob into the deaf damp expanse, into your expanse ...” This may not be entirely accurate, but I remember it that way ... I I think that maybe this image was taken from there ...
And the story of the creation of the poster is as follows: my mother ran into my father’s workshop with a cry of “War!”. “Stand still and don’t move…,” he told 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 hard fate of seeing off their sons to war that day. And this gesture, which she, a Russian woman, imperceptibly adopted from her husband's countrywomen - Georgian women - and which was so familiar to him, helped the artist to create his best creation.
Here are the surviving testimonies of the participants in the creation of the poster.
Irakli Toidze:“... I worked on a version of the illustration for the poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin. And suddenly - a message from the Soviet Information Bureau that the fascist army attacked our country with a war. This amazing message immediately switched to the creation of a poster ... ".
Tamara Toidze:“As soon as war was declared, I was terribly afraid for the children. I went into Irakli's studio... Apparently, I had such a face that he immediately told me: "Stop and don't move!" - and immediately began to make sketches.
This is the very case when a person (in this situation, this is Tamara Toidze) was in the right place at the right time.
As Tamara Fedorovna later told her son, already on the same day, June 22, the father sat down at the poster, and she posed for him and was very tired.
Alexander Toidze:“The image of a woman from a poster, of course, is largely generalized. Mother was very beautiful, but her father simplified her image, made it clear to everyone ... ".
History has shown that Irakli Toidze was right. Motherland is not a "portrait of the artist's wife". This is a portrait of the Mother, in which each of us, looking closely, will find the features of a dear face ...
The face of the woman depicted on the famous propaganda poster of the Great Patriotic War “The Motherland Calls!” 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 German invasion of the USSR, in June 1941. In those days, there were many similar propaganda posters and patriotic songs 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 at that time had already become famous as an illustrator - he was the author of drawings for the poem "The Knight in the Panther's 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 came messages about the beginning of the war of the Sovinformburo, transmitted through a street loudspeaker. This gesture inspired the artist to create the poster. "Stand still and don't move!" - he then asked his wife and immediately began to make sketches. Tamara at that time was 37 years old, 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: “Allow me, O Motherland, to sob into the deaf, damp expanse, into your expanse.”
The poster was ready by the end of the month and was printed in millions of copies. It was pasted all over the country - at railway stations and assembly 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 hand over the settlement to the Nazis, the soldiers, retreating, tore off the posters “with mom” and took them away with them.
Today, some researchers express doubts about the time and circumstances of the creation of this poster. Some of them claim that the "Motherland" was created before the start of the war, and others that Toidze borrowed the call to action gesture not from his wife, but from the authors of already existing foreign propaganda posters on military topics. Still others are sure that the raised and pulled 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 the "Motherland" was extraordinary: the poster inspired people in the same way as the song "Holy War". It would hardly have been possible if the artist had created only a portrait of his wife. The image was really collective, which is also confirmed by the artist's son: “The image of a woman from a poster, of course, is largely generalized. Mother was very beautiful, but her father simplified her image, made it clear to everyone ... ". That is why this image has become a real symbol of that era and the strength of the spirit of the people who rose to fight against fascism.
Soviet propaganda poster "The Motherland Calls!" created in July 1941. The author of the poster is Irakli Moiseevich TOIDZE (1902-1985). According to the artist, the idea of creating a collective image of a mother calling for help from her sons came to his mind quite by accident. Hearing the first message from the Soviet Information Bureau about the attack of fascist Germany on the USSR, his wife Tamara ran into his studio shouting “War!”. Struck by the expression on her face, the artist immediately began to sketch the future masterpiece.
The son of Irakli Moiseevich recalls: “The poster hung at assembly points and train stations, at the entrance of factories and in military echelons, in kitchens, in houses and on fences. For soldiers and officers, he became a portrait of Mother, in which everyone saw the features of a dear face ... Mom said that, having heard the message from the Sovinformburo about the attack by the Nazis, she was terribly afraid for the children ... Apparently, her expression was such that her father exclaimed: “Stop like that and don’t move!” ... Mom stood by the window and posed. She kept numbing her hand raised up. ” “The image of a woman from a poster, of course, is largely generalized. Mother was very beautiful, but her father simplified her image, made it clear to everyone ... ".
Irakli TOIDZE, many years after the end of the Great Patriotic War, told a story that he had heard from a familiar front-line soldier. 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: “But what about my mother ?!”. He lagged behind his comrades, removed the poster from the wall, carefully folded it and, putting it under his tunic, rushed to catch up with his unit. And then an enemy bullet got him. This case is very symbolic: it speaks of the enormous emotional impact that the poster had on the front-line soldiers.
Victor SUVOROV's book "Day" M "" suggests that the poster was created before the war and sent in large numbers in secret packages to military commissariats in December 1940 with instructions to open it on the day "M". No documented evidence is provided by the author. Such an assumption should be treated as an artistic fantasy that does not have concrete historical confirmation. But it is absolutely certain that the earliest of the signal copies stored in the Russian State Library is 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 an oath and solemnly swear to be an honest, brave, disciplined, vigilant fighter, strictly keep military and state secrets, implicitly comply with all military regulations and orders of commanders and superiors .
I swear to conscientiously study military affairs, to protect military and people's property in every possible way, and to the last breath to be devoted to my People, my Soviet Motherland and the Workers 'and Peasants' Government.
I am always ready, on the orders of the Workers 'and Peasants' Government, to defend my Motherland - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and, as a soldier 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 the enemies.
If, by malicious intent, I violate this solemn oath of mine, then let me suffer the severe punishment of Soviet law, the general hatred and contempt of the working people.
KARTASHEV L. "Moscow, 1941". 1983
PRISEKIN Sergei Nikolaevich (1958-2018) "Portrait of A.V. Alexandrova". 2008
Canvas, oil.
KORZHEV Geliy Mikhailovich (1925-2012) "In the days of the 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 commissariat." 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 in August 1943." 2011
SAVOSTYANOV Fedor Vasilyevich (1924-2012), co-authors B.V. Kotik, N.M. Kutuzov, K.G. Molteninov, V.I. Seleznev, Yu.A. Garikov, L.V. Zucchini. "Breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad". Fragment of a diorama.
The poster "Motherland Calls" was drawn by the artist Irakli Toidze in June 1941. The meaning of the image on the poster was that a woman (motherland, a collective image of a mother) calls her sons for help, to defend her native land.
The image of the "Motherland" later became one of the most common images of Soviet propaganda.
"Motherland" is one of the most famous propaganda posters in the history of the Soviet Union, the circulation of which was simply huge. The prehistory of its creation is very simple, but no less entertaining. The poster was born in the first days that have passed since the attack of the Nazi troops of the Nazi Third Reich on the Soviet Union.
The declaration of war was broadcast on all radio channels of the state, so that every inhabitant 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 how the poster would look like came to the author quite by accident. Toidze learned about the German attack from the words of his wife.
On the morning of June 22, 1941, a year after the announcement of the Soviet Information Bureau, the excited wife of the artist ran into his studio with only one word: “War!”.
The amazed Toidze, seeing all the horror and calm determination on the face of his woman, 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 the hands of the Motherland holds an oath, the adoption of which was mandatory before being sent to the front to fight the troops of the German invaders.
Behind the woman, many bayonets are visible, which symbolizes a powerful force behind the back of the whole country. The poster gained its strength: for many conscripts, the poster became an additional incentive, and they tried to sign up as volunteers as soon as possible to be sent to the front.
There is a certain continuity in the heroine of the poster, similar to which was 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 written off 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 him 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 expanses of space, whether people will hear and understand it, time will tell, while the militarization of space continues. 
After the war, the artist Irakli Toidze made ten more author's repetitions of the poster for various museums, while the original is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. For some, the poster has become a model of Soviet military propaganda. For others - the Motherland - a mother that needs to be defended and protected. For others, it is a public stamp associated with the Soviet period.
In modern society, too, there was a place for this image. Numerous interpretations of the image and parodies of this poster are known in fine arts, sculpture, folk art, and advertising.
