Constructivism
Lillian Smith
May, 2022
Constructivism
Constructivism is a revolutionary art movement and philosophy that was first incepted by painter and architect, Vladimir Tatlin, in the early 1900s (“Constructivism [Art].”). This abstract and austere style was prominent during the 20s and 30s and took on an industrial approach that reflected the modern world. It replaced the traditional concern of composition with a new focus of construction and building art. It began with sculptural works and eventually spread into other fields, most notably, graphic design. Constructivism is both a social movement and an artistic movement that emphasized the functionality of art and serving a social purpose.
Muscovite Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1831) received his education at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (“Vladimir Tatlin.”). He stepped away from the arts in 1904 after the death of his father and, having already lost his mother, left to become a sea merchant. He eventually returned and completed his studies at the Penza Art School six years later and began a career as an icon painter. The life experiences he gained during that time and having to make many things for himself, such as clothing, workshop fittings, and furniture, would stem into his work and the foundation of Constructivism (“Gigatos.”).
In 1915, Tatlin was a part of a significant exhibition, The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting 0.10 (Zero Ten), which took place in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg), Russia. It symbolized the end of Cubo-Futurism and signified the beginning of two new, innovative movements: one of which was Constructivism (“In the Search of 0, 10”). Tatlin displayed his painterly Corner Counter-Reliefs that were influenced by his visit with Pablo Picasso in 1913. The famed Spanish artist’s paper collé inspired Tatlin to explore Analytical Cubism and its use of overlapping planes with basic shapes in collage and assemblage. He later applied such principals to his work to build more utilitarian, nonobjective, and three-dimensional creations with new industrial media, such as wood, steel, and glass (“Vladimir Tatlin.”). The spatial construction and the material properties of objects came to define early Constructivist art (“Constructivism [Art].”).
One of Tatlin’s most well-known conceptions was the Monument to the Third International (1920): a spiral-shaped sculptural design. This geometrical industrial tower was to be built after the Bolshevik Revolution as a headquarters for the new Soviet government during a more technical and modern age (“Tatlin’s Tower.”).
“Tatlin envisioned his tower in St. Petersburg because the city connected Russia to the West and the rest of the world. The tower would have been a symbol of turning to the liberated future, a technological paradise…” (Ibid).
Though his design never came to fruition due to a change in dictatorship, its innovativeness was influential to other architects and artists, and it became a (towering) symbol for modernity and Constructivism. “…the promising ideas and beliefs linked to the tower have been kept alive, especially since the collapse of communism” (“Tatlin’s Tower.”). It encapsulated Tatlin’s slogan, “Art into life” (“Gigatos.”).
Saint Petersburg native Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956) was also fundamental part of Constructivism. After he completed his art education at the Kazan Art School in 1910, and later the Stroganov Institute in Moscow, he was invited by Tatlin himself to participate in The Last Futurist Exhibition (“Alexander Rodchenko.”). Rodchenko took quite an interest in the avant-garde style, which sparked the beginning of his journey as a pioneer of Constructivism. His work was shaped by styles such as Cubism, Futurism, and Suprematism—the other new and innovative movement that was signified by the last Cubo-Futurist exhibition. Rodchenko was a versatile artist, first emerging as a conventional painter. Like Tatlin, he created sculptures and utilized untraditional elements and commonplace materials. It was in the mid-1920s, however, that he delved into creating the graphic designs that he is most acclaimed for.
Graphic design is known as the arrangement of visual elements to relay a message. This was influenced by the philosophy of the Constructivists, who rejected decorative stylization and personal expression—the idea of art for art’s sake— to emphasize the importance of art that was functional and served a purpose to the masses (“Constructivism [Art].”). Magazines, book covers, advertisements, etc. were used as a visual language, and one of the most effective areas of communicating messages in the socialist society were through posters, especially when it came to propaganda.
Early Constructivism took place during a time of oppression. Russia was underdeveloped compared to other more modern and industrialized countries. The working class and peasant class lived under the Tsar rule and had seen decades of corruption in a nearly bankrupt land (“Emancipation”). Despite the abolishment of serfdom in the 1860s, many struggled to survive as they hardly had means of provision, leading to a period of repression. The end of the autocracy took place in 1917 when Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) abdicated his position of power to try and prevent an escalation of the civil unrest caused by the participation and losses during the country’s involvement in the 1914 World War. This ultimately didn’t stop the Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik Civil War from taking place. It was during this time that the trade union encouraged artists to use their skills for the state and in service of industry.
One of the most recognizable pieces of Constructivist propaganda is Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1919) by El Lissitzy (1890-1941), which was the first abstracted work that contained a political message (“El Lissitzky”). He made a lithographic poster in support of the Bolsheviks and to show progression towards a better future. The large red wedge represents the Communist revolutionaries, known as the Reds, who are breaking through the anti-Communist White Army during the civil war. The red triangle penetrates and draws the eye to the white, circular space—representing the Bolshevik’s victory and a brighter future—within the angular, black portion of the image. Small geometric shapes are evenly scattered throughout the flat picture plane and are integrated with the Cyrillic text’s color and movement. The modernist sans-serif typeface also mimics the shapes.
Have You Enlisted? (1920) by Russian graphic artist Dmitry Moor (1983-1946) is another well-known example of Constructivist propaganda. In this picture, a man clothed in red is pointing his finger towards the viewer, telling them to sign up for the army. The Cyrillic word in the top right corner translates to ‘You.’ It is emphasized by being set apart from the other text and by being red, which is powerful and more aggressive color: suiting of the message being conveyed. This artwork is similar to that of the iconic USA’s Uncle Sam I Want You poster created for World War I a few years prior.
There were different methods Constructivists used to produce their designs, photomontage being the most significant, which resembled the Cubist collage technique. In fact, Constructivism was the first movement to incorporate photography as a graphic design element, and Alexander Rodchenko was the one who originally saw its potential in this form (Paikova). One of his well-known works during the Soviet Era was an advertisement that he designed in 1924 for the Lengiz Publishing House, Books (Please)! In All Branches of Knowledge (“Alexander Rodchenko”).
On this advert, a young woman has her hand cupped, shouting “Books in all branches of knowledge.” Many intentional elements were used in Constructivist art. The Cyrillic letters have a bold sans-serif font with no embellishments; it wasn’t expressive, but rather more constructed and modern. The background was made of green, red, blue, and black geometric shapes with the harsher lines giving a sense of movement, a characteristic that stemmed from Futurism (Wehberg). At the time, education and literacy was the goal of the Communist government. The black and white photo of the woman is “calling to her comrades to come and read, and, in the process, become educated by this state media agency” (Willette).
Varvara Stepanova (1894-1958), Rodchenko’s wife, was a reputable Russian artist and a productivist as well. She also would use photomontage in her work, as seen in her book design, The Results of the First Five-Year Plan (1933). The oversized portrait of the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, shows him speaking over a large group of people, “his eyes turned to the left as if looking to the future” (Watson). The crowd is showing their optimism for The Plan, a program designed to further the industrialization of the economy (but instead brought widespread poverty and famine). Like in Rodchenko’s Books (Please)! Stepanova used a sans-serif for the body text, similar to the placards in the photograph. Sepia and black and white photos were set on a diagonal in the composition, structured by flat, geometric planes. Red, the prevalent color at the time as it represented communism, is used amidst the neutral colors.
Constructivism was an era of re-invention. Though it was suppressed in Russia after a relatively short time, it left a mark on future movements and artists. The Dutch De Stijl movement were influenced by their design work of propaganda posters and claimed that Constructivist art was a symbol of the modern era (“Russian”). The Bauhaus in Germany also adopted the avant-garde methods, as quite a few Constructivist artists would teach at the Bauhaus art schools.
One of many artists who found inspiration in the early 20th-century movement and in Rodchenko’s work was New Jersey pop artist Barbara Kruger. In her piece No (1985), her choice of colors, use of photography, captions, and typeface reference the Constructivist style. There are also elements in Neville Brody’s work, an English graphic designer, that show the same influence. In his Screw the Rules poster (c. 1990), the distorted letters are similar to that of the Soviet style of type: defined by text composed in a nontraditional way on a page, and although legible, could have different shapes and sizes within one word (“Five Graphic Design Ideas.”). The blockier font, red and white colors, and communication of a message are also reminiscent of the art period. Constructivism served more than a social purpose. It served as confidence and belief in progress and the future; a purpose that still holds as much importance today.
Bibliography
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