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Constructivism

1 Cubo- 3

2 7

3 13

4 Constructivism 16

5 Rodchenko & Stepanova 22

6 33

7 Post-Constructivism 69

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 HISTORY / Constructivism 2 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism 3 / 75

1912–1915 Cubo-Futurism Italian ideals take root in after rousing lectures by F.T. Marinetti.

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 David and Vladimir Burliuk, pages from Vladimir Mayakovski: A Tragedy, 1914 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Cubo-Futurism 4 / 75

1912–1915 Cubo-Futurism • Influenced by Marinetti’s Russian lectures • Sythesis of and Futurism applied to the graphic • Heavily featured in book design • A simple, visual language for the illiterate and poverty-stricken • Handmade materials • Course paper

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 David and Vladimir Burliuk, pages from Vladimir Mayakovski: A Tragedy, 1914 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Cubo-Futurism 5 / 75

1912–1915 Cubo-Futurism • Reaction to czarist Russia • Peasant society • Relation of visual form to meaning • Mixed type weights, sizes, and styles

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 David and Vladimir Burliuk, pages from Vladimir Mayakovski: A Tragedy, 1914 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Cubo-Futurism 6 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 David and Vladimir Burliuk, pages from Vladimir Mayakovski: A Tragedy, 1914 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Suprematism 7 / 75

1913–1921 Suprematism 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, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Suprematism 8 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 (Left) , Soldier of the First Division, 1914; (right) Kazimir Malevich, Peasant woman, 1912 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Suprematism 9 / 75

Kazimir Malevich

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Malevich, Suprematist Compositions, circa 1915 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Suprematism 10 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Suprematism 11 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 (Top left and right) Kazimir Malevich, Square, Circa 1913 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Suprematism 12 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist exhibition, circa 1917 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism 13 / 75

1917–1922 Russian Revolution A sequence of revolutions bring radical change to Russia in the midst of .

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 (left) Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, (right) King George V of the United Kingdom, 1913 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Russian Revolution 14 / 75

1917–1922 Russian Revolution • Occurs during WWI • February Revolution • Czarist Russia falls • Temporary Dual Rule • Provisional Government (state level) • Socialist Soviets (national level)

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Russian Revolution 15 / 75

1917–1922 Russian Revolution • • Bolshevik Control (, Lenin) • remove Russia from WWI, 1918 • Civil War (Reds vs. Whites) • Bolshevik victory • USSR created in 1922 • Lenin, dies 1924

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism 16 / 75

1919–1930 Constructivism An artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia and claimed a rejection of the idea of autonomous .

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 el lissitzky, lenin tribune sketch, 1920 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Constructivism 17 / 75

These constructivists called on the to stop producing useless things such as 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

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 (right) , Cover of Konstruktivizm, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Constructivism 18 / 75

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

MEGGS

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Aleksandr Rodchenko, Design for a Kiosk: The Future—Our Only Goal, 1919 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Constructivism 19 / 75

1921 Led by and , twenty-five renounced “art for art’s sake” to devote themselves to:

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

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Vladimir Tatlin GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Constructivism 20 / 75

1919 Vladimir Tatlin Tatlin’s Tower, designed by Vladimir Tatlin, championed the new machine aesthetic that was across the industrialized world.

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

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Vladimir Tatlin, of the tower, 1919 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Constructivism 21 / 75

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

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Vladimir Tatlin, Elevattion of the tower, 1919 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism 22 / 75

1891–1956, 1894–1958 Rodchenko & Stepanova Married couple Alexander Rodchenko and contribute the greatly to the cause of Constructivistism through numerous forms of design.

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 23 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Vavara Stepanova GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 24 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 25 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 26 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 27 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Varvara Stepanova, Students in sports clothing performing of “An Evening of the Book,” 1921 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 28 / 75

Photography has all the rights, and all the merits, necessary for us to turn towards it as the art of our time.

ALEXANDER RODCHENKO

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 29 / 75

One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again.

ALEXANDER RODCHENKO

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Alexander Rodchenko, Young Gliders, 1933 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 30 / 75

One of Rodchenko’s first photographs, this portrait signifies a revolution on many levels. While his mother holds up one half of a pair of spectacles to help her read (a skill she acquired only at fifty), Rodchenko stands before her testing a recently purchased camera, the monocular medium of the future. Rodchenko famously cropped his negative, cutting out the walls and table to yield a dynamic, close-up view. His mother’s face, furrowed in concentration, her work-worn hand, and the kerchief wrapped around her thereby convey a heroic character without trading in sentimentality. We apprehend the resulting picture, moreover, in much the way that Rodchenko’s mother puzzles over her reading. The interaction of hands and lenses has in both cases brought the world radically into focus, magnifying earthshaking changes that, for all their promise of clarity, are still difficult or impossible to comprehend.

MATTHEW S. WITKOVSKY

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Alexander Rodchenko, Mother, 1933 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 31 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Alexander Rodchenko, Lilya Brik, 1924. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Rodchenko & Stepanova 32 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Alexander Rodchenko, Books (Please)! In All Branches of Knowledge, 1924. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism 33 / 75

1890–1941 El Lissitzky Lissitzky was an important figure of the Russian Avant Garde, designing numerous exhibition displays and works for the .

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, The Contructor (Self Portrait), Circa 1919 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 34 / 75

1890–1941 El Lissitzky His work spanned the media of graphic design, , , , book design, and architecture.

Lissitzky’s entire career was laced with the belief that the artist could be an agent for change, later summarized with his edict, “das zielbewußte Schaffen” (goal-oriented creation).

WIKIPEDIA

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 , El Lissitzky, 1928 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 35 / 75

1890–1941 El Lissitzky He identified the graphic arts, particularly posters, books, and architecture as effective conduits for reaching the public.

Once the printed page started to seduce the artist, painting slowly died.

EL LISSITZKY

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Architecture at , book cover, 1927 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 36 / 75

1920’S Book Design The book is becoming the most monumental : no longer is it something caressed only by the delicate hands of a few bibliophiles; on the contrary, it is already being grasped by hundreds of thousands of poor people.

– EL LISSITZKY

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Broom Magazine, 1923 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 37 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Broom Magazine, 1923 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 38 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Cover for Veshch magazine, 1922. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 39 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, For the Voice, poetry book by Vladimir Mayakovski, 1923. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 40 / 75

1890–1941 El Lissitzky • Lazar Markovich Lissitzky • Pochinok, Russia (Jewish-populated community in the western region) • Spent childhood in (also ’s hometown) • Lives for ten years stay with his grandparents in during high school years • Began his career illustrating children’s books in an effort to promote in Russia • Paints “Had Gadya,” a traditional Jewish song, in honor of his culture • Studies under , a local Jewish artist, at age 13

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, Had Gadya (The Tale of a Goat), 1919. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 41 / 75

1890–1941 Yehuda Pen Paints with traditional Russian artist, Yehuda Pen

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Yehuda Pen, paintings circa 1915 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 42 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Four Teyashim (Four Billygoats) by Ben Zion Raskin, 1919. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 43 / 75

1890–1941 UNOVIS • Attends Vitebsk • Paints with Malevich • Becomes part of UNOVIS in 1919 • “Utverditeli Novovo Iskusstva” • “The Champions of the New Art”

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 44 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 A group photo of the students and professors of the UNOVIS group (with Malevich in the center), 1920 in Vitebsk, Russia. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 45 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 A group photo of the students and professors of the UNOVIS group (with Malevich in the center), 1920 in Vitebsk, Russia. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 46 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Boris Zvorykin, The Struggle of the Red Knight with the Dark Force, 1919 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 47 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 (left) Boris Zvorykin, The Struggle of the Red Knight with the Dark Force, 1919. (right) El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 48 / 75

1920 PROUN • Begins his own revolutionary artistic ideology • Exists at “the station where one changes from painting to architecture” • “proekt utverzhdenya novogo” • “Design for the affirmation of the new”

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 49 / 75

1920 PROUN In these works, the basic elements of architecture — volume, mass, color, space and rhythm — were subjected to a fresh formulation in relation to the new suprematist ideals.

WIKIPEDIA

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Proun 4B, 1919–1920. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 50 / 75

1920 PROUN It was his goal “to create three- dimensional environments in which two-dimensional shapes could exist in direct contrast to the space they inhabited.

THEARTSTORY.ORG

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Proun 2C, 1920 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 51 / 75

1920 PROUN The space must be a kind of showcase, a stage, on which the pictures make their appearance as actors in a drama (or comedy). It should not imitate a living space.

EL LISSITZKY

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 52 / 75

1920 PROUN Through his Prouns, utopian models for a new and better world were developed.

WIKIPEDIA

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 53 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 54 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 and El Lissitzky, Mertz 8 & 9, 1924. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 55 / 75

1922 About Two Squares Through his inventive children’s book About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions he sought to familiarize the young generation with the revolutionary language of Suprematism and .

IMJ.ORG

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 56 / 75

Don’t read this book.

Take paper.

Fold rods.

Color in blocks of wood.

Build…

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 57 / 75

① here ARE two squares

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 58 / 75

② flying toward the Earth from far away

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 59 / 75

③ and see the black restlessly

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 60 / 75

④ craSH — scattering everywhere

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 61 / 75

⑤ and upon the black the Red establishes itself clearly

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 62 / 75

⑥ So it ends, further on

It was not enough that the had wiped out all reference to the past. One must be the as well, asserted Lissitzky, and actively build the future.

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 63 / 75

1923 – 1925 Architecture • Non-hierarchical architecture • Unlike of the capitalist West • Lissitzky designs “horizontal skyscrapers” • Thoroughly imagined yet mostly unbuilt

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 64 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Wolkenbügel (Cloud Irons), 1924 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 65 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 66 / 75

1928 Ogonyok Print Shop • Lissitzky’s sole tangible work of architecture • Commissioned in 1928 by Ogonyok magazine to be used as a print shop • Left abandoned for many years • Damaged by fire, 2008

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 67 / 75

1890–1941 El Lissitzky • Catches pneumonia, October 1923 • Pulmonary , February 1924 • “tuberculosis devoured his lungs” • Dies at age 51

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / El Lissitzky 68 / 75

1941 El Lissitzky Produce more tanks, Anti-tank guns and weapons, Planes, artillery and mortars, Shells, machine guns, rifles!

Anything for the front! Anything for victory!

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 El Lissitzky, Anything for the Front, 1941. GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism 69 / 75

1922–1930 Post-Constructivism As revolutionary intensity slows and the country stabilizes, the aesthetic evolves into disparate formal explorations and becomes applied to more conventional, less urgent forms of mass communication.

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 , circa 1927 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Post-Constructivism 70 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Stenberg Brothers, circa 1927 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Post-Constructivism 71 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Stenberg Brothers, circa 1927 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Post-Constructivism 72 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Stenberg Brothers, circa 1927 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Post-Constructivism 73 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Liubov Popova textile designs, circa 1925–30 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Post-Constructivism 74 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Liubov Popova, Set for The Magnanimous Cuckold, 1922 GRAPHIC DESIGN HISTORY / Constructivism / Post-Constructivism 75 / 75

© Kevin Woodland, 2020 Liubov Popova, Set for The Magnanimous Cuckold, 1922