GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM 1 / 36 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, 2019 El Lissitzky, The Contructor (Self Portrait), Circa 1919 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 2 / 36 1890–1941 El Lissitzky His work spanned the media of graphic design, typography, photography, photomontage, 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, 2019 Josef Albers, El Lissitzky, 1928 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 3 / 36 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, 2019 El Lissitzky, Architecture at Vkhutemas, book cover, 1927 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 4 / 36 1920’S Book Design The book is becoming the most monumental work of art: 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, 2019 El Lissitzky, Broom Magazine, 1923 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 5 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, Broom Magazine, 1923 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 6 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, Cover for Veshch magazine, 1922. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 7 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, For the Voice, poetry book by Vladimir Mayakovski, 1923. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 8 / 36 1890–1941 El Lissitzky • Lazar Markovich Lissitzky • Pochinok, Russia (Jewish-populated community in the western region) • Spent childhood in Vitebsk (also Marc Chagall’s hometown) • Lives for ten years stay with his grandparents in Smolensk during high school years • Began his career illustrating Yiddish children’s books in an effort to promote Jewish culture in Russia • Paints “Had Gadya,” a traditional Jewish song, in honor of his culture • Studies under Yehuda Pen, a local Jewish artist, at age 13 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, Had Gadya (The Tale of a Goat), 1919. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 9 / 36 1890–1941 Yehuda Pen Paints with traditional Russian artist, Yehuda Pen © Kevin Woodland, 2019 Yehuda Pen, paintings circa 1915 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 10 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, Four Teyashim (Four Billygoats) by Ben Zion Raskin, 1919. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 11 / 36 1890–1941 UNOVIS • Attends Vitebsk Art School • Paints with Malevich • Becomes part of UNOVIS in 1919 • “Utverditeli Novovo Iskusstva” • “The Champions of the New Art” © Kevin Woodland, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 12 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 A group photo of the students and professors of the UNOVIS group (with Malevich in the center), 1920 in Vitebsk, Russia. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 13 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 A group photo of the students and professors of the UNOVIS group (with Malevich in the center), 1920 in Vitebsk, Russia. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 14 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 Boris Zvorykin, The Struggle of the Red Knight with the Dark Force, 1919 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 15 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 (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. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 16 / 36 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, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 17 / 36 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, 2019 El Lissitzky, Proun 4B, 1919–1920. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 18 / 36 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, 2019 El Lissitzky, Proun 2C, 1920 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 19 / 36 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, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 20 / 36 1920 PROUN Through his Prouns, utopian models for a new and better world were developed. WIKIPEDIA © Kevin Woodland, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 21 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 22 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 Kurt Schwitters and El Lissitzky, Mertz 8 & 9, 1924. GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 23 / 36 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 abstract art. IMJ.ORG © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 24 / 36 Don’t read this book. Take paper. Fold rods. Color in blocks of wood. Build… © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 25 / 36 ① here ARE two squares © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 26 / 36 ② flying toward the Earth from far away © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 27 / 36 ③ and see the black restlessly © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 28 / 36 ④ craSH — scattering every- where © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 29 / 36 ⑤ and upon the black the Red establishes itself clearly © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 30 / 36 ⑥ So it ends, further on It was not enough that the black square had wiped out all reference to the past. One must be the red square as well, asserted Lissitzky, and actively build the future. – THE CHARNEL HOUSE © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale in Six Constructions, 1922 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 31 / 36 1923 – 1925 Architecture • Non-hierarchical architecture • Unlike skyscrapers of the capitalist West • Lissitzky designs “horizontal skyscrapers” • Thoroughly imagined yet mostly unbuilt © Kevin Woodland, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 32 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 El Lissitzky, Wolkenbügel (Cloud Irons), 1924 GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 33 / 36 © Kevin Woodland, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 34 / 36 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, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 35 / 36 1890–1941 El Lissitzky • Pneumonia October 1923 • Pulmonary tuberculosis February 1924 • “tuberculosis devoured his lungs” © Kevin Woodland, 2019 · GDT-101 / HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN / CONSTRUCTIVISM / EL LissitZky 36 / 36 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, 2019 El Lissitzky, Anything for the Front, 1941..