Typology of visual images of Karl Marx

Over the past one and a half centuries since the death of Karl Marx many mutually exclusive opinions on the significance of his theoretical heritage have been expressed. This paper examines the typology of visual images of Marx executed in monumental and easel sculpture, as well as in the visual arts. Of interest is the degree of canonicity of the figurative language, and also the speed of the artistically-psychological variability of the interpretation of the personality of the founder of the theory of historical materialism, the memory of which was immortalized in granite, bronze or in a graphic sheet. This can be traced by examining artifacts that have appeared in different years. The cultural analysis of the images of the leader of the world proletariat, created in the time interval from the beginning to the demise of the Soviet state is accentuated by political differences and social attitudes that existed at various stages of the existence of the socialist system. The author considers the stylistics and artistic value of the studied works an addition to the ideological component.