This beautifully illustrated book brings together an extensive collection of over two hundred works by artists from Azerbaijan and Russia who lived and worked during the second half of the twentieth century. Despite being from different artistic schools, generations, or creative mindsets, these artists were united by their need for inner freedom, a need that drove their work beyond the restrictions of Socialist Realism, the dominant ideology of the time.

Following an in-depth overview of artists challenging the socialist realist approach, the book is divided into two sections comparing and contrasting the work produced by the two countries and cultures. It features paintings and drawings by more than fifty artists alongside individual biographies of the artists and a close analysis of their works. Presented in side-by-side English and Russian translation, by two leading art historians, this book will be of interest to anyone fascinated by modern art under socialism.