Happy holidays! Festive greetings cards to send to friends and family

This year, The Calvert Journal is offering three greetings cards.

In Russia, the New Year yolka or “New Year tree” is a tradition that encompasses pagan rituals, tsars and tsarinas, as well as Soviet anti-religious propaganda. This one is set in the type of brutalist cityscape that can be found across the post-Soviet world.

Following on from the success of last year’s special report Eastern Bloc architecture: 50 buildings that defined an era, this illustration exhibits iconic buildings from the region. We particularly enjoy the everyday characters in the foreground, reminiscent of Bruegel’s Children’s Games.

This homage to Soviet realist artist Viktor Popov’s famous At the weekend showcases the work of an artist little known outside Russia, who was nonetheless dubbed the “Dostoevsky of art”. It provides an alternative view of Soviet art, which is often associated with the propaganda art that came to define the genre.