sign in sign up
<<
Home , Battleship Potemkin, Boris Iofan, Modern architecture

AND REVOLUTION Soviet Art, and 1917-1937

• MODERNISM AND REVOLUTION • Soviet Art, Film and Architecture 1917-1937 ADVANCED SEMINAR SPRING 2019 ARC 388R ARC 368R REE 325 Dr. Danilo Udovički-Selb

SYLLABUS

Meetings: WEDNESDAYS 6:30 pm-9:30 pm Battle 1.118 lecture room

Office hours: Tuesdays 4-6 pm and by appointment at [email protected] Cell phone 617 820 3745

Prerequisites: For SoA’s Students: Minimum two Surveys in the

Information on instructor’s background as mandated by the University: Dr. Danilo Udovički-Selb is Associate Professor of Architecture and Architecture History. a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture; an MA in Philosophy, Boston College; and an MA in Architecture and Planning, University of Belgrade. In 2003-2004 he held the CASVA Mellon Bruce Senior Fellowship, at the of Art, Washington. He has published extensively on the 1930s in the and French Modernism, including in the Journal of Architectural Historians, 2009; Journal of Contemporary History, London; Documentation of , , 2008; a Monograph, University of Trondheim, Norway); on the 1937 Paris International Exposition in the Journal of Architectural Historians, 2015); on (, Paris, 2011); Journal of Architectural Historians, 1996); on Charlotte Perriand (Paris: Centre George Pompidou, exhibition catalogue 2007; and NY: Abrams, 2004). His latest book : Narkomfin: Moisej Ginzburg and Ignatij Milinis (Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth Verlag). He is U.S. correspondent, architecture critic for, and board member of Il Giornale dell’Architettura, Torino, . “L'Exposition de 1937 n'aura pas lieu: The Invention of the Paris International Expo and the Soviet and German Pavilions.» in Architecture of Great Expositions (London: ASHGATE) 2015; “Between ‘Proletarian Vanguard’ and Establishment: ’s Two ‘World Pavilions,’ Paris1937and New York 1939,” in Measuring Against the West: A History of Russian Exposition and Festival Architecture (Rutledge: Abingdon-on-Thames), Forthcoming. Currently writing a book on the 1930s Stalin “Revolution from Above” to be published by Bloomsbury—London.

Method: Work will be done through lectures, reading responses, and student presentations of paper as work in progress GADING: A for excellence in research, insight, originality and quality of writing B Solid work, some issues with writing or insight C Lack of originality, poor writing

1 MODERNISM AND REVOLUTION Soviet Art, Film and Architecture 1917-1937

REQUIERMENTS • Student weekly written reports on readings (45%) --due every TUESDAY morning by 9am latest • A research paper (45%) (about 20 pages). Presentations of ongoing paper research in the last weeks of the semester (10%)

Paper due in digital form

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Any student with a documented disability (physical or cognitive) who requires academic accommodations should contact the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259 as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations.

Main Reference Texts on Reserve:

•S. Fitzpatrick, The Fitzpatrick, Sheila. Oxford / New York : Oxford University Press, 2008.3rd ed. •S. Khan-Magomedov, Pioneers of Soviet Architecture (New York: Rizzoli, 1983) •Exhibition Catalogue, The Great Utopia (New York: Guggenheim Museum, Fall 1992) A selection of books is on reserve to facilitate your paper research

Attendance at all meetings of the seminar is required. ONE UNEXCUSED ABSENCE FAILS THE COURSE. Absences are excused for health reasons only or personal unforeseen vis major (exclude weddings) ATTENDANCE IS WAVED FOR RELIGEOUS HOLIDAYS, on the condition that it is reported to the instructor on the first day of class.

* PLEASE LIVE YOUR HORSE OUTDOORS *

ALL the REQUIRED READING is found in the READER (a selection of texts) Available for purchase from printer who will bring the material to class Important visual material on reserve Consult possibly towards your PAPER

• Khan-Magomedov, VHUTEMAS: Moscou, 1920-1930, (Paris: Centre Pompidou, 1990) ( Avant-Garde Architectural School] • Collection: Mayakovsky (poems)/El Lissitzky (typography & design) For the Voice. With Voices of Revolution (primary and secondary critical essays) ed. By Patricia Railing (MIT Press, 2000) • C. Cooke, Soviet Architectural Competitions, 1919-1936 • Sophie Lissitzky-Küpers, El Lissitzky : life, letters, texts. / Reprinted with rev. / London / 1980 • Lissitzky, El, / El Lissitzky: : architect, painter, photographer, typographer. / Eindhoven / 1990 •A. Gozak & A. Leonidov, Ivan Leonidov, (New York: Rizzoli, 1988) • Khan-Magomedov, S. O.) / Rodchenko : the Complete Work. / 1st MIT Press ed. Cambridge, MA / •L. Zhadova, Malevich: and Revolution in Russian Art, 1910-1930, (Thames/Hudson, 1982) • ------, Tatlin, (Rizzoli, 1988) • Tyrannei des Schönen: Architektur der Stalin-Zeit, Peter Noever, ed. (Munich•New York, 1994) • Architecture of the Stalin Era Tarkhanov, Alexei. (London / 1992) • Paper Architecture: New Projects from the Soviet Union, Exhib. Catalogue, H. Klotz, ed. (Rizzoli, 1990)

SCHEDULE AND READINGS

January 23 FIRST MEETING: 6pm, instead of 6:30pm. Introduction to the course

2 MODERNISM AND REVOLUTION Soviet Art, Film and Architecture 1917-1937

Film Screening “Reds” (1980), a film by Warren Beatty (with W. Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson) PART 1.

Based on Ten Days that Shook the World by the American journalist John Reed who took part in the Bolshevik Revolution. He contracted typhus in 1921. He is buried in the Kremlin walls

January 30 Was the Bolshevik Revolution Marxist? 1. From Philosophy to Manifesto

Reading: • Perry Anderson “ and Revolution,” New Left Review (1984) • Karl Marx, “For a Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing;” pp. 12-15 • Karl Marx, “Thesis on Feuerbach,” pp. 143-145. in The Marx-Engels Reader, Robert Tucker, ed. (New York London: W. W. Norton & CY), 1978.

•. Karl Marx, “The Communist Manifesto” in The Marx-Engels Reader, Robert Tucker, ed. (New York London: W. Norton & CY), 1978. Further Reading (Optional): • Karl Marx, “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844” pp. 66; 70- 101

Film “Reds” PART 2

February 6 Defining the Revolution 2. From Manifesto to Revolution

Film “The ” , 1925, 74 min (The recently discovered complete version, MoMA edition) Reading: • “Modernity as Break” in David Harvey Paris, The Capital of Modernity, p. 1 • Marx, “The Possibility of a Non-Violent Revolution,” pp. 522-524, • Marx, “After the Revolution: Marx Debates Bakunin,” pp. 542-48. • Engels, F. “On Social Relations in ,” pp. 665-676 in The Marx-Engels Reader, Robert Tucker, ed. (New York London: W. Norton & CY), 1978. • V. I. Lenin, State and Revolution (New York: International Publishers), 1935, “The ‘Withering Away’ of the State and Violent Revolution.” pp. 15-20. In The Lenin Anthology, R. Tucker ed. (New York London: W. W. Norton & Cy) 1974.

3 MODERNISM AND REVOLUTION Soviet Art, Film and Architecture 1917-1937

• P. Sedgewick, ed. Year one of the Russian Revolution (: Holt, Rinehart, Winston), 1972, 'Editor's Introduction' pp. 1-15.

Further (optional) Reading: • Marx and Engels, “Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League,” pp. 501-51. • Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” pp. 594-617. • Engels, F. “The Tactics of Social Democracy,” 556-573. • Paul Avrich, The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution (London: Thames & Hudson), 1973. • “April Theses,” pp. 295-299. “The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government,” pp. 438-459; in The Lenin Anthology, R. Tucker ed. (New York London: W. W. Norton & Cy) 1974. • A Lenin Chronology

February 13 The Precursors

Film: “October” S. Eisenstein, 1927

Reading: • Catherine Cooke, 1. “The Precursors…” pp 4-6, in Russian Avant-Garde, (Academy Editions), 1995. • Brumfield

• Kollontaj Further Reading • February 20 Art in Revolution- Revolution in excerpts: “Earth” by , 1927 “Arsenal” The Avant-Garde and Abstraction: The Role of Icons Readings: • John Berger Art and Revolution (Pantheon Books), 1969 pp. 19-47 (second edition 1997) • Catherine Cooke, “2. New Artistic Foundations,” pp. 6-14, in Russian Avant-Garde • John Bowlt, ed., Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism 1902-1934 (New York: Viking Press), 1976, pp. 110-158 • Peter Wollen, Readings and Writings: Semiotic Counter Strategies, (London: NLB), 1982. "Art in Revolution." pp. 65-78. • Jean-Claude Marcadé, “K.S. Malevich: From Black Quadrilateral

4 MODERNISM AND REVOLUTION Soviet Art, Film and Architecture 1917-1937

(1913) to on White (1917): From eclipse of Objects to the Liberation of Space.” & M. Grobman, “About Malevich,” in Barron and Tutchman, The Avant-Garde in Russia: New Perspectives, 1910-1930 (), 1981

Further Reading • Anatolij Lunacharskij, “Revolution and Art, 1920-22” pp. 190-196.

February 27 The Formation of the Architectural Language 1. The Formalist Method: A Theory for Art, and an Art for Theory The Birth of Suprematism and .

Theater “The Victory over the Sun,” (1913) Stage set and costumes by (Excerpts from Theatrical Reenactment) Reading: • Viktor Erlich, Russian Formalism: History – Doctrine, Third Edition, (-Paris: Mouton), 1969, “Marxism versus Formalism” p. 99-117. • V. Shklovsky, “The Resurrection of the Word,” p. 41-47; J. Bowlt, “Russian Formalism and the Visual Arts,” p.131-146; • P. Steiner, in Russian Formalism: a Meta Poetics, (Ithaca: Press), 1984, "The Three Metaphors" p. 45-67

Further Reading: • K. Paul Zygas, “Cubo- and the Palace of Labor,” “Art and Poetry: The Cubo-Futurists” an Interview with Roman Jakobson; • Khan -Magomedov, Pioneers of Soviet Architecture (New York: Rizzoli), 1983, “Interaction Between Architecture and Fine Arts,” pp. 61-73.

March 6 The Formation of the Architectural Language: 2. Theater, Film, ‘Agit-Prop’

Film: “Aelita Queen of Mars” by Protazanov (1925) [excerpts] Reading: • Christina Lodder, "Constructivist Theater as Laboratory for an Architectural Aesthetic" in AA Quarterly, 1979. • Szymon Bojko “Agit-Prop Art: The Streets were their Theater.” pp. 72-77, in Stephen Bann and John Bowlt, ed. Russian Formalism: A Collection of Articles and Texts in Translation (New York: Harper & Row Publishers), 1973, • Wireless Imaginations (1992), D. Kahn, ed., A. Avramov, ”The Symphony of Sirens” (1923),

5 MODERNISM AND REVOLUTION Soviet Art, Film and Architecture 1917-1937

March 13 Architecture in Revolution: Trends and Protagonists Reading: • Yves-Alain Bois, “From –Infinity to 0 to +Infinity,” p. 27-33 in El Lissitzky: architect, painter, photographer, typographer. Exhib. cat. (Eindhoven), 1990. • S. O. Khan Magomedov, A. Vesnin and Russian Constructivism (New York: Rizzoli), 1986. “The Objective Method and the Productivist Theory of Art.” pp. 84-114 • Catherine Cooke, 5. “Constructivism from Tatlin and Rodchenko in Russian Avant-Garde, (Academy Editions), 1995.

Further Reading: • L.A. Zhadova, ed. Tatlin (New York: Rizzoli), 1988, “Tatlin the Organizer of Materials into Objects" pp. 134-154. • Zygas Kestutis, “Constructivist Architecture: Retrospective Critiques" pp. 46-61. In Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City), Exhibit. Catalogue, 1982

______

SPRING BRAKE

______March 27 PAPER PROPOSAL DUE

Film and Architecture: Constructivist Montage

Film: “” by Dzga Vertov (1928)-68 min. Film: Analysis of the montage principles invented by Eisenstein “Battleship Potemkin” (The steps sequence)

Reading: • Yves-Alain Bois “Sergey Eisenstein: Montage and Architecture” Assemblage 10, December 1989.2 • Thomas Aman, ”Formalists and Cinema: An Introductory Note,” 120-121; • V. Shklovsky (1927) “Poetry and Prose in Cinematography “ p. 128-130.

Further Reading • Steven Crofts and Olivia Rose, “An Essay Towards Man with a Movie Camera” in Screen, Spring 1977, v.18, #1. pp.3-56. • Seth Feldman, “Peace between man and the Machine”: ’s “Man with a Movie Camera” * Vladimir Petrić, Constructivism on Film (Book on reserve)

6 MODERNISM AND REVOLUTION Soviet Art, Film and Architecture 1917-1937

April 3

The Pedagogical Concept: the VHUTEMAS / VHUTEIN

Reading: • The Great Utopia: The Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde, 1915-1932, exhibition cat. (New York: Guggenheim Museum), 1992, Natalia Adaskina, “The Place of the VHUTEMAS in the Russian Avant-Garde.” • El Lissitzky, Russia: An Architecture for World Revolution, “Schools of Architecture,” p. 67.

Further Reading • Anatoly Lunacharskij, Public Education in the Russian Socialistic Federation’ p.37-47 “Theses of the Art Section of Narkompros.” [Ministry of Enlightenment] ...”

April 10

Eisenstein, “Ivan the Terrible” An Allegory on Stalin

Aesthetic and Political Analysis of the Film (by film historian Dr. Joan Neuberger, UT History Department) • Frank , “Architecture and Life in the USSR,” in Architectural Record, October 1937, p. 59-63

Further Reading • Danilo Udovički “Facing Hitler’s Pavilion: The Uses of Modernity in the Soviet Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition,” in Journal of Contemporary History (JCH), Vol. 47, N. 1, Jan. 2012, 22.

April 17 Stalin’s ‘Revolution from Above’ and the Resilience of the Architectural Avant-Garde 1.The Turning point:1928 Lenin Library Competition

Reading • Danilo Udovički "Between Modernism and Socialist Realism: Soviet Architectural Culture Under Stalin’s ‘Revolution from Above’”, 1928-1930.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians" (JSAH), December 2009 • John Berger, “Art and revolution part II

7 MODERNISM AND REVOLUTION Soviet Art, Film and Architecture 1917-1937

• Jean-Louis Cohen, “America a Soviet Ideal” AA Files, No 5 Jan 1984

April 24

Stalin’s ‘Revolution from Above’ and the Survival of the Architectural Avant-Garde: 2. From the Palace of Soviets (1932) to the Paris (1937) and New York (1939) Pavilions

No readings (Work on your papers)

Student presentations (work in progress)

May 1. TBA No readings (Work on your papers)

Student presentations (work in progress)

May 8 TBA Student presentations (work in progress)

Papers due Monday May 13, 10am

8