CONSTRUCTIVISM / Overview I / Lv

Home , Vladimir Mayakovsky

GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / Overview i / lv

Constructivism

1 Machine Aesthetics 1

2 Russian Futurism 6

3 Kazimir Malevich 10

4 Russian Revolution 15

5 ROSTA Windows 18

6 Constructivism 25

7 Post Constructivism 48

8 Conclusion 55

Machine Aesthetics

1909–1925

A fascination with technology and its social implications spread to every corner of Europe, and what once was seen as grotesque became firmly embedded in contemporary thinking.

1909 Ferdinand Leger French • Synthetic Cubism • Invention of form

1915 A. M. Cassandre French • Synthetic Cubism • Invention of form • Practical application of the fine arts

1915 Edward McKnight Kauffer American • Synthetic Cubism • Invention of form • Practical application of the fine arts

Russian Futurism

1912–1915

Italian ideals take root in Russia after rousing lectures by F.T. Marinetti.

1912–1915 Russian Futurism

• Marinetti Lectures • Cubism and Futurism • Book design • Poverty stricken • Handmade materials • Course paper

1912–1915 Russian Futurism

• Reaction to czarist Russia • Cubo-futurism • Peasant society • Relation of visual form to meaning • Mixed type weights, sizes, and styles

Kazimir Malevich

1913–1921

Suprematism, the radical new formal language created by Malevich distilled the machine aesthetic to its essence and provided the impetus for Constructivist visual technique.

© KEVIN WOODLAND, 2015 (LEFT) KAZIMIR MALEVICH, SOLDIER OF THE FIRST DIVISION, 1914; (RIGHT) KAZIMIR MALEVICH, PEASANT WOMAN, 1912 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / Kazimir Malevich 12 / 55

Russian Revolution

1917–1922

A sequence of revolutions bring radical change to Russia in the midst of World War I.

1917–1922 Russian Revolution

• Occurs during WWI • February Revolution • Czarist Russia falls • Temporary Dual Rule • Provisional Government (state level) • Socialist Soviets (national level)

1917–1922 Russian Revolution

• October Revolution • Bolshevik Control (Red Army, Lenin) • Bolsheviks remove Russia from WWI, 1918 • Civil War (Reds vs. Whites) • Bolshevik victory • USSR created in 1922 • Lenin, dies 1924

ROSTA Windows

1919–1922

A series of propoganda posters printed under telegraph agency “ROSTA” and narrated by poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, situate revolutionary ideals in the popular conscious.

1919–1922 ROSTA Windows

Posters in Moscow shop windows were created in support of the Bolsheviks “Red Army” role in the civil war

1919–1922 ROSTA Windows

• Printed under telegraph agency Rosta • Vladimir Mayakovsky, writer

© KEVIN WOODLAND, 2015 VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY (WRITER), ILLUSTRATOR UNKNOWN, “BEFORE, WE ONLY SQUANDERED MONEY ON THE ECONOMY,” 1921 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / ROSTA Windows 21 / 55

1919–1922 ROSTA Windows

• Stylized imagery • Universal imagery and symbols • Illiterate audience • Narrative sequence

1919–1922 ROSTA Windows

Vladimir Mayakovsky, writer

• Hand painted in guache • Eventually stenciled, 1920

1919–1922 ROSTA Windows “...a nation of 150 million being hand-served by a small group of painters”

– VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY

Constructivism

1919–1930

Constructivism was a movement in favor of art as a practice for social purposes.

1919

Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia, and claimed a rejection of the idea of autonomous art.

1921

Led by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko, twenty-five artists renounced “art for art’s sake” to devote themselves to:

• Industrial design • Visual communications • Applied arts • The new communist society

ALEXANDER RODCHENKO, CONSTRUCTION, 1920 © KEVIN WOODLAND, 2015 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / Russian Constructivism 30 / 55

1921

These constructivists called on the artist to stop producing useless things such as paintings and turn to the poster, for “such work now belongs to the duty of the artist as a citizen of the community who is clearing the field of the old rubbish in preparation for the new life.”

–MEGGS

1921

Tatlin turned from sculpture to the design of a stove that would give maximum heat from minimum fuel; Rodchenko forsook painting for graphic design and photojournalism.

–MEGGS

1919 Vladimir Tatlin

Tatlin’s Tower, designed by Vladimir Tatlin, championed the new machine aesthetic.

Gabo publicly criticized Tatlin’s design saying Either create functional houses and bridges or create pure art, not both.

1919 Vladimir Tatlin

• Four main geometric structures • Rotate at different speeds • Base: Lectures, gatherings (annually) • Middle 1: Executive activities (monthly) • Middle 2: Information center, telegraph, radio, loudspeaker (daily) • Top: Broadcast Center, radio equipment • Projector, sky writing

1919 Vladimir Tatlin

• Monument to the Third International • Socialist headquarters • Iron, glass and steel • Modernist icon • Twin helix construction • Taller than the Eiffel Tower • Never built

1890–1941 El Lissitzky

Lissitzky was an important figure of the Russian Avant Garde, designing numerous exhibition displays and propaganda works for the Soviet Union.

© KEVIN WOODLAND, 2015 (RIGHT) EL LISSITZKY, PROUN PORTFOLIO, CIRCA 1922; (LEFT) EL LISSITZKY, LENIN TRIBUNE SKETCH, 1920 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / Russian Constructivism 45 / 55

Lissitzky believed that the artist could be an agent for change, as described in his edict, “Goal-Oriented Creation.”

Post Constructivism

1922–1930

As revolutionary intensity slows and the country stablizes, the aesthetic evolves into disparate formal explorations and becomes applied to more conventional, less urgent forms of mass communication.

Conclusion

Through the thoughtful work of visionaries like Lissitzky, Rodchenko, Stepanova and others, the Constructivist formal language gave a deep sense of purpose to the post-war machine aesthetic and strengthened a number of parallel movements across Europe.