From “Moorishness” to Uzbek Socialist Realist Architecture: An Introduction to “25 Years of Creative Work of Soviet Architects of Uzbekistan” 1

This article examines Boris Zasypkin’s unpublished 1946 manuscript 25 Years of Creative Work of Soviet Architects of Uzbekistan to reassess Socialist Realism in Soviet architecture. Challenging its conventional interpretation as a unified and prescriptive style, it shows how architectural practice in Uzbekistan emerged as a heterogeneous and contested field shaped by local traditions, uneven engagement with architectural heritage, and individual creative approaches on the ground, rather than an ideological construction channeled from above. In addition to the critical introduction, the article provides the English translation of selected excerpts from Zasypkin’s manuscript, making this key primary source accessible to a wider scholarly audience.

ARTMargins, Volume 15, Issue 2, pp. 99-104.

doi:10.1162/ARTM.a.378

https://direct.mit.edu/artm/article/15/2/99/137303/From-Moorishness-to-Uzbek-Socialist-Realist

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