Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Experiments in Abstraction
Purpose
• When the new century came, the quest for
national identity caused an ambitious and
aggressive change in every part of Russian
culture.
• There was a chauvinistic desire to beat the
West at its own game.
Russian Futurism
• inspired by the writings of Marinetti, Russian
Futurists sought to create a movement which
would cause the Western artists to look to Russia
for guidance
• sought to create a format which was uniquely
Russian in style
• became increasingly used as a device of propaganda
and a voice for social reform
• brought to an end by the government's official
endorsement of Socialist Realism
The Role of Artists
• saw their work as a reflection of the social,
economic and cultural climate of the moment,
and vehicles that could initiate change
• disseminated their radical ideas which enabled
new groups to evolve their own philosophies,
keeping visual art in a constant state of
development
• appreciated the significant impact their ideas
could have on society
The Russian Avant-garde:
1885-1953
Tatlin
• began constructing relief sculptures in a variety of
materials including tin, glass, wood and plaster
• combined actual materials through careful
construction, where the real space between them
would be treated as a pictorial element, thus forcing
their inter-relationship as an important aesthetic
consideration
• introduced space as a compositional factor, changing
the face of modern sculpture
• used suspended wire across the corner of a room,
divorcing himself from the earthbound tradition of
past sculpture
Vladimir Tatlin. Nude (1910-14). Watercolor.
Vladimir Tatlin. Sailor (1911). Watercolor.
Vladimir Tatlin. Corner Relief (1915). Mixed media.
Vladimir Tatlin.
Counter Relief ( 1914-15).
Iron, copper, wood, rope.
Photograph of Tatlin Inaugurating Monument to Sofia Perovskaya,
December 20, 1918, USSR
Vladimir Tatlin. Monument to the
Third International (1991-20). Wood,
iron, and glass.
Alexander Rodchenko.
Dobrolet Advertising Poster
(1923). Lithograph on paper.
Alexander Rodchenko. Dobrolet Trademark (1923). Gouache on paper.
Alexander Rodchenko.
Design for Book Cover
Incorporating the Word “Depot”
(ca. 1925). Watercolor, tempera,
pen and ink, and pencil on paper.
Alexander Rodchenko. The Workers’ Club (1925).
Alexander Rodchenko. Poster for Sergei Einstein’s film Battleship Potemkin (1925).
Alexander Rodchenko.
Worker’s suit (1925).
Alexander Rodchenko.
Conversation with the
Finance Official on Poetry.
Cover for the book by
V. Mayakovsky (1926).
Varvara Stepanova
1894-1958
Varvara Stepanova.
Figure (1920).
Gouache and pencil
on illustration board.
Varvara Stepanova.
Collage (1919-20).
Paper on paper.
Varvara Stepanova.
Tarelkin, costume
design of the play
Tarelkin’s Death by
Sukhovo-Kobylin (1922).
Gouache and blue pencil
on paper.
Varvara Stepanova.
Design for men’s sportswear
(1923). Gouache and Indian
ink on paper.
Varvara Stepanova
Dress design for daytime
(1924). Gouache and Indian
ink on paper.
Varvara Stepanova
The Third Warrior (1925).
Collage and India ink
on paper.
The End of Constructivism
• The Soviet regime at first encouraged this new
style.
• However, beginning in 1921, constructivism
(and all modern art movements) were officially
disparaged as unsuitable for mass propaganda
purposes
Social Realism