constructing a revolution

A detailed Summary of constructing a revolution

A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE AND THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION

The Russian Avant Garde began in Russia in about 1915 It was the year that Malevich revealed his Suprematist compositions that reduced painting to total abstraction. and rid the pictures of any reference whatsoever to the visual world. He is credited with being the first artist to do this; that is, forsake the visual world for a world of pure feeling and sensation. This was the first movement originated by Russians and the birth of several other Avant Garde movements. Probably the most popular piece at his 1915 exhibition was ?BLACK SQUARE? (real name ?suprematist composition?. It?s basically a black square on a slightly larger white square that forms a border around it. It was hung in the exhibition in the way an icon would be hung in a peasant?s home; ie top corner of the room. Malevich saw Suprematism as representing a yearning for space, an impulse to break free from the globe of the earth. It a spirit, a spirituality that went beyond anything before it.

Among Malevich?s students and contemporaries were such names as El Lissitzsky, Alexsandr Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin who were, of course,

The government saw Constructivism as a tool and all other art as Art. Lenin said he did not know whether all these art forms were the highest manifestation of artistic genius or not; simply because he was unable to understand them. He also said that he received no joy or pleasure from them either. Further, that although complete freedom was the right of every artist this did not mean free reign was to be the order of the day either. Stalin was later to take this to mean extreme and total control of the arts which led to the bloody purges of those who had not died.

This is not to say that the Constructivists weren?t astract, they were, but also very functional. They succeeded in eliminating personal taste completely from the objects they produced. They employed a rational approach to industrial designs.

Suprematists did also insist on imbuing their work with a deep spirituality that flew in the face of new soviet atheistic ideals. This was another reason for its unpopularity.

By 1921 Constructivism had reached its Zenith and had slowly started a decline that would last another nine years or so until the Stalinist purge of artists began. Their popularity didn?t diminish very much but the punchiness of their art which was vital at the start of the revolution was no longer needed as much. The fist world war was over, the revolutionary government were now the official state line and the emphasis changed from War propaganda and monuments to posters promoting the new economic policy and the bourgeoning soviet cinema industry. Constructivist art turned its attention to the people as humans, not as units for the revolution. They started making functional art for the civil sector. George and Vladimir Sternberg were Constructivists who became widely recognised during this period. They designed economic policy posters similar to Rodchenko and Lissitzky but their real fame came through film poster designs. The Russian film industry was becoming very experimental and radical through such people as Eisenstein and Vertov and the Sternerg brothers naturally followed suite. They were also responsible for a world changing tecnique in graphic art and photography; The extreme close-up.

The Suprematist and Constructivist schools tried different approaches. Malevich?s Suprematists were trying to create a whole new vision, a new world, breaking all tradition and rejecting the old culture. Tatlin?s school, however, rejected easel painting. They said it was bourgeois and should be discounted completely. They adopted a very mathematical, utilitarian approach to art. They studied engineering and architecture. They started designing artistic, functional but also utilitarian equipment for the new society. Their approach worked. More and more they were noticed to be making art for the masses. To a new government who were wrestling with such questions as how to shap

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Approximate Word count = 1935
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History