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Constructivism is an early twentieth-century art movement founded in 1915 by
Vladimir Tatlin Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, wh ...
and
Alexander Rodchenko Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Ро́дченко; – 3 December 1956) was a Russian and Soviet artist, sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer. He was one of the founders ...
. Abstract and austere, constructivist art aimed to reflect modern
industrial society In sociology, industrial society is a society driven by the use of technology and machinery to enable mass production, supporting a large population with a high capacity for division of labour. Such a structure developed in the Western world in ...
and urban space. The movement rejected decorative stylization in favor of the industrial assemblage of materials. Constructivists were in favour of art for propaganda and social purposes, and were associated with Soviet
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...
, the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
and the
Russian avant-garde The Russian avant-garde was a large, influential wave of avant-garde modern art that flourished in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, approximately from 1890 to 1930—although some have placed its beginning as early as 1850 and its e ...
.
Constructivist architecture Constructivist architecture was a constructivist style of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. Abstract and austere, the movement aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space, while ...
and art had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th century, influencing major trends such as the
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...
and De Stijl movements. Its influence was widespread, with major effects upon architecture,
sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...
,
graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...
,
industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactu ...
, theatre, film, dance, fashion and, to some extent, music.


Beginnings

Constructivism was a post-World War I development of Russian Futurism, and particularly of the 'counter reliefs' of
Vladimir Tatlin Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, wh ...
, which had been exhibited in 1915. The term itself was invented by the sculptors Antoine Pevsner and
Naum Gabo Naum Gabo, born Naum Neemia Pevsner (23 August 1977) (Hebrew: נחום נחמיה פבזנר), was an influential sculptor, theorist, and key figure in Russia's post-Revolution avant-garde and the subsequent development of twentieth-century scul ...
, who developed an industrial, angular style of work, while its geometric abstraction owed something to the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich. ''Constructivism'' first appears as a term in Gabo's '' Realistic Manifesto'' of 1920. Aleksei Gan used the word as the title of his book ''Constructivism'', printed in 1922. Constructivism as theory and practice was derived largely from a series of debates at the Institute of Artistic Culture (INKhUK) in Moscow, from 1920 to 1922. After deposing its first chairman,
Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj;  – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
, for his 'mysticism', The First Working Group of Constructivists (including Liubov Popova, Alexander Vesnin, Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, and the theorists Aleksei Gan,
Boris Arvatov Boris Ignatievich Arvatov (Russian: Борис Игнатьевич Арватов; 3 June 1896, Vilkaviškis – 14 June 1940) was a Russian and Soviet artist and art critic. He was active in the constructivist movement. His father was a special ...
and Osip Brik) would develop a definition of Constructivism as the combination of ''
faktura The term of faktura (russian: фактура) emerged in Russian art criticism before the First World War. David Burliuk used the term as a Russian equivalent of the French word "facture" which refers to the texture of the painted surface. Voldem ...
'': the particular material properties of an object, and ''tektonika'', its spatial presence. Initially the Constructivists worked on three-dimensional constructions as a means of participating in industry: the OBMOKhU (Society of Young Artists) exhibition showed these three dimensional compositions, by Rodchenko, Stepanova, Karl Ioganson and the
Stenberg brothers Vladimir Stenberg ( – May 1, 1982) and Georgii Stenberg ( – October 15, 1933) were Russian avant-garde Soviet artists and designers, best known for designing film posters for Sergei Eisenstein's movies, Dziga Vertov's documentaries and numer ...
. Later the definition would be extended to designs for two-dimensional works such as books or posters, with ''montage'' and ''factography'' becoming important concepts.


Art in the service of the Revolution

As much as involving itself in designs for industry, the Constructivists worked on public festivals and street designs for the post-October revolution Bolshevik government. Perhaps the most famous of these was in Vitebsk, where Malevich's UNOVIS Group painted propaganda plaques and buildings (the best known being
El Lissitzky Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий, ; – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Эль Лиси́цкий; yi, על ליסיצקי), was a Russian artist ...
's poster ''
Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (russian: Клином красным бей белых!, ) is a 1919 lithographic Bolshevik propaganda poster by artist El Lissitzky, "the man through whose exertions the new Russian ideas became generally under ...
'' (1919)). Inspired by Vladimir Mayakovsky's declaration 'the streets our brushes, the squares our palettes', artists and designers participated in public life during the Civil War. A striking instance was the proposed festival for the
Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...
congress in 1921 by Alexander Vesnin and Liubov Popova, which resembled the constructions of the OBMOKhU exhibition as well as their work for the theatre. There was a great deal of overlap during this period between Constructivism and
Proletkult Proletkult ( rus, Пролетку́льт, p=prəlʲɪtˈkulʲt), a portmanteau of the Russian words "proletarskaya kultura" (proletarian culture), was an experimental Soviet artistic institution that arose in conjunction with the Russian Revolut ...
, the ideas of which concerning the need to create an entirely new culture struck a chord with the Constructivists. In addition some Constructivists were heavily involved in the 'ROSTA Windows', a Bolshevik public information campaign of around 1920. Some of the most famous of these were by the poet-painter Vladimir Mayakovsky and Vladimir Lebedev. The constructivists tried to create works that would make the viewer an active viewer of the artwork. In this it had similarities with the Russian Formalists' theory of 'making strange', and accordingly their main theorist Viktor Shklovsky worked closely with the Constructivists, as did other formalists like the Arch Bishop. These theories were tested in theatre, particularly with the work of Vsevolod Meyerhold, who had established what he called 'October in the theatre'. Meyerhold developed a 'biomechanical' acting style, which was influenced both by the circus and by the 'scientific management' theories of
Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up ...
. Meanwhile, the stage sets by the likes of Vesnin, Popova and Stepanova tested Constructivist spatial ideas in a public form. A more populist version of this was developed by
Alexander Tairov Alexander Yakovlevich Tairov (russian: Александр Яковлевич Таиров; uk, Олександр Якович Таїров; 6 July 1885 – 5 September 1950) was a leading innovator and theatre director in Russia before and durin ...
, with stage sets by Aleksandra Ekster and the Stenberg brothers. These ideas would influence German directors like
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
and
Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content o ...
, as well as the early Soviet cinema.


Tatlin, 'Construction Art' and Productivism

The key work of Constructivism was Vladimir Tatlin's proposal for the Monument to the Third International (Tatlin's Tower) (1919–20) Honour, H. and Fleming, J. (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Laurence King Publishing, p. 819. which combined a machine aesthetic with dynamic components celebrating technology such as searchlights and projection screens. Gabo publicly criticized Tatlin's design saying, "Either create functional houses and bridges or create pure art, not both." This had already caused a major controversy in the Moscow group in 1920 when Gabo and Pevsner's '' Realistic Manifesto'' asserted a spiritual core for the movement. This was opposed to the utilitarian and adaptable version of Constructivism held by Tatlin and Rodchenko. Tatlin's work was immediately hailed by artists in Germany as a revolution in art: a 1920 photograph shows
George Grosz George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Obj ...
and John Heartfield holding a placard saying 'Art is Dead – Long Live Tatlin's Machine Art', while the designs for the tower were published in
Bruno Taut Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 – 24 December 1938) was a renowned German architect, urban planner and author of Prussian Lithuanian heritage ("taut" means "nation" in Lithuanian). He was active during the Weimar period and is kno ...
's magazine ''Frühlicht''. The tower was never built, however, due to a lack of money following the revolution. Janson, H.W. (1995) ''History of Art''. 5th edn. Revised and expanded by Anthony F. Janson. London:
Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...
, p. 820.
Tatlin's tower started a period of exchange of ideas between Moscow and Berlin, something reinforced by El Lissitzky and
Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...
's Soviet-German magazine ''Veshch-Gegenstand-Objet'' which spread the idea of 'Construction art', as did the Constructivist exhibits at the 1922 ''Russische Ausstellung'' in Berlin, organised by Lissitzky. A Constructivist International was formed, which met with Dadaists and De Stijl artists in Germany in 1922. Participants in this short-lived international included Lissitzky, Hans Richter, and László Moholy-Nagy. However the idea of 'art' was becoming anathema to the Russian Constructivists: the INKhUK debates of 1920–22 had culminated in the theory of Productivism propounded by Osip Brik and others, which demanded direct participation in industry and the end of easel painting. Tatlin was one of the first to attempt to transfer his talents to industrial production, with his designs for an economical stove, for workers' overalls and for furniture. The Utopian element in Constructivism was maintained by his 'letatlin', a flying machine which he worked on until the 1930s.


Constructivism and consumerism

In 1921, the
New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...
was established in the Soviet Union, which opened up more market opportunities in the Soviet economy. Rodchenko, Stepanova, and others made advertising for the co-operatives that were now in competition with other commercial businesses. The poet-artist Vladimir Mayakovsky and Rodchenko worked together and called themselves "''advertising constructors''". Together they designed eye-catching images featuring bright colours, geometric shapes, and bold lettering. The lettering of most of these designs was intended to create a reaction, and function emotionally – most were designed for the state-owned department store Mosselprom in Moscow, for pacifiers, cooking oil, beer and other quotidian products, with Mayakovsky claiming that his 'nowhere else but Mosselprom' verse was one of the best he ever wrote. Additionally, several artists tried to work with clothes design with varying success: Varvara Stepanova designed dresses with bright, geometric patterns that were mass-produced, although workers' overalls by Tatlin and Rodchenko never achieved this and remained prototypes. The painter and designer Lyubov Popova designed a kind of Constructivist
flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...
dress before her early death in 1924, the plans for which were published in the journal '' LEF''. In these works, Constructivists showed a willingness to involve themselves in fashion and the mass market, which they tried to balance with their Communist beliefs.


LEF and Constructivist cinema

The Soviet Constructivists organised themselves in the 1920s into the 'Left Front of the Arts', who produced the influential journal ''LEF'', (which had two series, from 1923 to 1925 and from 1927 to 1929 as ''New LEF''). LEF was dedicated to maintaining the avant-garde against the critiques of the incipient
Socialist Realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
, and the possibility of a capitalist restoration, with the journal being particularly scathing about the 'NEPmen', the capitalists of the period. For LEF the new medium of cinema was more important than the easel painting and traditional narratives that elements of the Communist Party were trying to revive then. Important Constructivists were very involved with cinema, with Mayakovsky acting in the film ''The Young Lady and the Hooligan'' (1919), Rodchenko's designs for the intertitles and animated sequences of Dziga Vertov's ''Kino Eye'' (1924), and Aleksandra Ekster designs for the sets and costumes of the science fiction film '' Aelita'' (1924). The Productivist theorists Osip Brik and Sergei Tretyakov also wrote screenplays and intertitles, for films such as
Vsevolod Pudovkin Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin ( rus, Всеволод Илларионович Пудовкин, p=ˈfsʲevələt ɪlərʲɪˈonəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈdofkʲɪn; 16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwrite ...
's ''Storm over Asia'' (1928) or Victor Turin's ''Turksib'' (1929). The filmmakers and LEF contributors Dziga Vertov and
Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, scree ...
as well as the documentarist
Esfir Shub Esfir Ilyinichna Shub (Russian: Эсфи́рь Ильи́нична Шуб; 16 March 1894, Surazh, Russian Empire – 21 September 1959, Moscow, Soviet Union), also referred to as Esther Il'inichna Shub, was a pioneering Soviet filmmaker and edit ...
also regarded their fast-cut, montage style of filmmaking as Constructivist. The early Eccentrist movies of
Grigori Kozintsev Grigori Mikhailovich Kozintsev (russian: link=no, Григорий Михайлович Козинцев; 11 May 1973) was a Soviet theatre and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964. In 196 ...
and Leonid Trauberg (''
The New Babylon ''The New Babylon'' (russian: Новый Вавилон, Novyy Vavilon alt. title: russian: Штурм неба, Shturm neba) is a 1929 silent historical drama film written and directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg. The film deals w ...
'', '' Alone'') had similarly avant-garde intentions, as well as a fixation on jazz-age America which was characteristic of the philosophy, with its praise of slapstick-comedy actors like
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...
and
Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
, as well as of Fordist mass production. Like the photomontages and designs of Constructivism, early Soviet cinema concentrated on creating an agitating effect by montage and 'making strange'.


Photography and photomontage

The Constructivists were early developers of the techniques of
photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final image ...
. Gustav Klutsis' 'Dynamic City' and 'Lenin and Electrification' (1919–20) are the first examples of this method of montage, which had in common with
Dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
the collaging together of news photographs and painted sections. However Constructivist montages would be less 'destructive' than those of Dadaism. Perhaps the most famous of these montages was Rodchenko's illustrations of the Mayakovsky poem ''About This''. LEF also helped popularise a distinctive style of photography, involving jagged angles and contrasts and an abstract use of light, which paralleled the work of László Moholy-Nagy in Germany: The major practitioners of this included, along with Rodchenko, Boris Ignatovich and Max Penson, among others. This also shared many characteristics with the early documentary movement.


Constructivist graphic design

The book designs of Rodchenko, El Lissitzky and others such as Solomon Telingater and Anton Lavinsky were a major inspiration for the work of radical designers in the West, particularly Jan Tschichold. Many Constructivists worked on the design of posters for everything from cinema to political propaganda: the former represented best by the brightly coloured, geometric posters of the Stenberg brothers (Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg), and the latter by the agitational photomontage work of
Gustav Klutsis Gustav Klutsis ( lv, Gustavs Klucis, russian: Густав Густавович Клуцис; 4 January 1895 – 26 February 1938) was a pioneering Latvian photographer and major member of the Constructivist avant-garde in the early 20th centu ...
and Valentina Kulagina. In
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
in the late 1920s Figurative Constructivism emerged from the Cologne Progressives, a group which had links with Russian Constructivists, particularly Lissitzky, since the early twenties. Through their collaboration with Otto Neurath and the
Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum (Museum for Social and Economic Affairs) is a museum located in Margareten, Vienna. History Following World War I, Vienna experienced extreme devastation and deprivation which radicalized architects and design ...
such artists as Gerd Arntz,
Augustin Tschinkel Augustin Tschinkel (1905, Prague – 1983, Cologne) was a Czech artist active with the Figurative Constructivist art movement. Tschinkel went to Cologne, Germany to attend the '' Pressa'' exhibition there. He was working with Ladislav Sutnar wh ...
and Peter Alma affected the development of the
Vienna Method Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) is a method of showing social, technological, biological, and historical connections in pictorial form. It consists of a set of standardized and abstracted pictorial symbols to repres ...
. This link was most clearly shown in ''A bis Z'', a journal published by Franz Seiwert, the principal theorist of the group.Benus B. (2013) 'Figurative Constructivism and sociological graphics' in ''Isotype: Design and Contexts 1925-71'' London: Hyphen Press, pp.216–248 They were active in Russia working with
IZOSTAT IZOSTAT (ИЗОСТАТ) ( rus, Всесоюзный институт изобразительной статистики советского строительства и хозяйства) was the "All-union Institute of Pictorial Statistics o ...
and Tschinkel worked with
Ladislav Sutnar Ladislav Sutnar (9 November 1897 – 13 November 1976) was a graphic designer from Plzeň, Czechoslovakia (in western Bohemia) who was a pioneer of information design and information architecture. Although he is uncredited, his contributions to ...
before he emigrated to the US. The Constructivists' main early political patron was
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
, and it began to be regarded with suspicion after the expulsion of Trotsky and the Left Opposition in 1927–28. The
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...
would gradually favour realist art during the course of the 1920s (as early as 1918 ''
Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...
'' had complained that government funds were being used to buy works by untried artists). However it was not until about 1934 that the counter-doctrine of
Socialist Realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
was instituted in Constructivism's place. Many Constructivists continued to produce avant-garde work in the service of the state, such as Lissitzky, Rodchenko and Stepanova's designs for the magazine ''
USSR in Construction ''USSR in Construction'' (russian: СССР на стройке) was a journal published in the decade of 1930 to 1941, as well as briefly in 1949, in the Soviet Union. It became an artistic gem and counter-current in the first year of socialist r ...
''.


Constructivist architecture

Constructivist architecture emerged from the wider constructivist art movement. After the
Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
, it turned its attentions to the new social demands and industrial tasks required of the new regime. Two distinct threads emerged, the first was encapsulated in Antoine Pevsner's and Naum Gabo's '' Realist manifesto'' which was concerned with space and rhythm, the second represented a struggle within the Commissariat for Enlightenment between those who argued for ''pure art'' and the Productivists such as Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova and Vladimir Tatlin, a more socially oriented group who wanted this art to be absorbed in industrial production. A split occurred in 1922 when Pevsner and Gabo emigrated. The movement then developed along socially
utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
lines. The productivist majority gained the support of the
Proletkult Proletkult ( rus, Пролетку́льт, p=prəlʲɪtˈkulʲt), a portmanteau of the Russian words "proletarskaya kultura" (proletarian culture), was an experimental Soviet artistic institution that arose in conjunction with the Russian Revolut ...
and the magazine LEF, and later became the dominant influence of the architectural group O.S.A., directed by Alexander Vesnin and Moisei Ginzburg.


Legacy

A number of Constructivists would teach or lecture at the
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...
schools in Germany, and some of the VKhUTEMAS teaching methods were adopted and developed there. Gabo established a version of Constructivism in England during the 1930s and 1940s that was adopted by architects, designers and artists after World War I (see
Victor Pasmore Edwin John Victor Pasmore, CH, CBE (3 December 190823 January 1998) was a British artist. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Pasmore was born in Chelsham, Surrey, on 3 December 1908. He ...
), and John McHale.
Joaquín Torres García Joaquín or Joaquin is a male given name, the Spanish version of Joachim. Given name * Joaquín (footballer, born 1956), Spanish football midfielder * Joaquín (footballer, born 1981), Spanish football winger * Joaquín (footballer, born 1982 ...
and Manuel Rendón were instrumental in spreading Constructivism throughout Europe and Latin America. Constructivism had an effect on the modern masters of Latin America such as:
Carlos Mérida Carlos Mérida (December 2, 1891 – December 21, 1985) was a Guatemalan artist who was one of the first to fuse European modern painting to Latin American themes, especially those related to Guatemala and Mexico. He was part of the Mexican mura ...
, Enrique Tábara, Aníbal Villacís, Theo Constanté, Oswaldo Viteri,
Estuardo Maldonado Estuardo Maldonado (born 1928) is an Ecuadorian sculptor and painter inspired by the Constructivist movement. Maldonado is a member of VAN (), the group of Informalist painters founded by Enrique Tábara. Other members of VAN included, Aníbal ...
,
Luis Molinari Luis Molinari (1929 in Guayaquil, Ecuador – 1994 in Quito, Ecuador) (Luis Molinari-Flores) was a member of the VAN Group (Vanguardia Artística Nacional), a collective of informal constructivist artists founded by Enrique Tábara and Aníb ...
,
Carlos Catasse Carlos Catasse (1944 – January 19, 2010), born Carlos Tapia Sepúlveda in Santiago, Chile, formed his new last name by combining the first two letters of his first, middle and last names. Catasse is a Chilean painter of international recogni ...
, João Batista Vilanova Artigas and
Oscar Niemeyer Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...
, to name just a few. There have also been disciples in Australia, the painter George Johnson being the best known. In New Zealand, the sculptures of Peter Nicholls show the influence of constructivism. In the 1980s graphic designer Neville Brody used styles based on Constructivist posters that initiated a revival of popular interest. Also during the 1980s designer Ian Anderson founded
The Designers Republic The Designers Republic (also tDR, and styled as The Designers Republic™) is a British graphic design studio based in Sheffield, England, founded in 1986 by Ian Anderson and Nick Phillips. They are best known for electronic music logos, al ...
, a successful and influential design company which used constructivist principles.


Deconstructivism

So-called Deconstructivist architecture shares elements of approach with Constructivism (its name refers more to the
deconstruction The term deconstruction refers to approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. It was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who defined it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essen ...
literary approach). It was developed by architects
Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...
,
Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a r ...
and others during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Zaha Hadid by her sketches and drawings of abstract triangles and rectangles evokes the aesthetic of constructivism. Though similar formally, the socialist political connotations of Russian constructivism are deemphasized by Hadid's deconstructivism. Rem Koolhaas' projects revive another aspect of constructivism. The scaffold and crane-like structures represented by many constructivist architects are used for the finished forms of his designs and buildings.


Artists closely associated with Constructivism

*
Ella Bergmann-Michel Ella Bergmann-Michel (20 October 1896 – 8 August 1971) was a German abstract artist, photographer and documentary filmmaker. An early student of constructivist art in Germany, her contributions to modern abstract art are often forgotten in Ame ...
– (1896–1971) * Norman Carlberg, sculptor (1928–2018) *
Avgust Černigoj Avgust Černigoj, also known in Italian as Augusto Cernigoi (August 24, 1898 – November 17, 1985), was a Yugoslav-era Slovenian painter known for his avant-garde experiments in Constructivism. Biography He was born in Trieste, to a Sloven ...
– (1898–1985) * John Ernest – (1922–1994) *
Naum Gabo Naum Gabo, born Naum Neemia Pevsner (23 August 1977) (Hebrew: נחום נחמיה פבזנר), was an influential sculptor, theorist, and key figure in Russia's post-Revolution avant-garde and the subsequent development of twentieth-century scul ...
– (1890–1977) * Moisei Ginzburg, architect (1892–1946) *
Hermann Glöckner Hermann Glöckner (21 January 1889 – 25 May 1987) was a German painter and sculptor. He was an important representative of constructivism. Glöckner was born in Cotta near Dresden. He attended the vocational school in Leipzig in 1903 and wor ...
, painter and sculptor (1889–1987) *
Erwin Hauer Erwin Hauer (January 18, 1926, Vienna, Austria - December 22, 2017, Branford, Connecticut) was an Austrian-born American sculptor who studied first at Vienna's Academy of Applied Arts and later under Josef Albers at Yale. Hauer was an early pro ...
– (1926–2017) * Hildegard Joos, painter (1909–2005) *
Gustav Klutsis Gustav Klutsis ( lv, Gustavs Klucis, russian: Густав Густавович Клуцис; 4 January 1895 – 26 February 1938) was a pioneering Latvian photographer and major member of the Constructivist avant-garde in the early 20th centu ...
– (1895–1938) *
Katarzyna Kobro Katarzyna Kobro (26 January 1898 – 21 February 1951) was a Polish avant-garde sculptor and a prominent representative of the Constructivist movement in Poland. A pioneer of innovative multi-dimensional abstract sculpture, she rejected A ...
– (1898–1951) * Srečko Kosovel – (1904–1926) *
Jan Kubíček Jan Kubíček (30 December 1927 – 14 October 2013) was a Czech painter and printmaker, and one of the most radical Central European exponents of constructivist and concrete art. He also spent more than a decade illustrating children's books for ...
– (1927–2013) *
El Lissitzky Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий, ; – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Эль Лиси́цкий; yi, על ליסיצקי), was a Russian artist ...
– (1890–1941) *
Ivan Leonidov Ivan Ilyich Leonidov (russian: Иван Ильич Леонидов; 9 February 1902 – 6 November 1959) was a Soviet constructivist architect, urban planner, painter and teacher. Early life Leonidov was raised on an isolated farmstead in t ...
– architect (1902–1959) * Richard Paul Lohse – painter and designer (1902–1988) * Peter Lowe – (1938–) *
Louis Lozowick Louis Lozowick (1892 – 1973) (ukr: Луї Лозовик) was a Ukrainian-born American painter and printmaker. He is recognized as an Art Deco and Precisionist artist, and mainly produced streamline, urban-inspired monochromatic lithogr ...
– (1892–1973) *
Berthold Lubetkin Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin (14 December 1901 – 23 October 1990) was a Georgian-British architect who pioneered modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint housing complex, the Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Fins ...
– architect (1901–1990) * Thilo Maatsch – (1900–1983) *
Estuardo Maldonado Estuardo Maldonado (born 1928) is an Ecuadorian sculptor and painter inspired by the Constructivist movement. Maldonado is a member of VAN (), the group of Informalist painters founded by Enrique Tábara. Other members of VAN included, Aníbal ...
– (1930–) * Kenneth Martin – (1905–1984) *
Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in ''South Pacific'' (194 ...
– (1907–1969) * Konstantin Medunetsky – (1899–1935) * Konstantin Melnikov – architect (1890–1974) *
Vadim Meller Vadym Meller or Vadim Meller, (russian: Вадим Георгиевич Меллер; uk, Вадим Георгійович Меллер, 1884–1962) was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian USSR, Soviet Painting, painter, avant-garde Cubist, Constructivism ...
– (1884–1962) * László Moholy-Nagy – (1895–1946) * Murayama Tomoyoshi – (1901–1977) *
Victor Pasmore Edwin John Victor Pasmore, CH, CBE (3 December 190823 January 1998) was a British artist. He pioneered the development of abstract art in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Pasmore was born in Chelsham, Surrey, on 3 December 1908. He ...
– (1908–1998) * Laszlo Peri – artist and architect (1899–1967) * Antoine Pevsner – (1886–1962) * Lyubov Popova – (1889–1924) *
Alexander Rodchenko Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Ро́дченко; – 3 December 1956) was a Russian and Soviet artist, sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer. He was one of the founders ...
– (1891–1956) * Willi Sandforth (1922-2017) *
Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, paint ...
– (1887–1948) * Franz Wilhelm Seiwert - (1894-1933) * Manuel Rendón Seminario – (1894–1982) * Willi Sandforth - (1922-2017) - German painter and designer *
Vladimir Shukhov Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Григо́рьевич Шу́хов; – 2 February 1939) was a Russian Empire and Soviet engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new ...
– architect (1853–1939) * Anton Stankowski – painter and designer (1906–1998) * Jeffrey Steele – (1931–) * Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg – poster designers and sculptors (1900–1933, 1899–1982) * Varvara Stepanova (1894–1958) *
Vladimir Tatlin Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin ( – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, wh ...
(1885–1953) *
Joaquín Torres García Joaquín or Joaquin is a male given name, the Spanish version of Joachim. Given name * Joaquín (footballer, born 1956), Spanish football midfielder * Joaquín (footballer, born 1981), Spanish football winger * Joaquín (footballer, born 1982 ...
(1874–1949) * Vasiliy Yermilov (1894–1967) * Alexander Vesnin – architect, painter and designer (1883–1957)


See also

* Anti-art * Cubist sculpture * Suprematism


References


Further reading

* ''Russian Constructivist Posters'', edited by Elena Barkhatova. . * Bann, Stephen. ''The Documents of 20th-Century Art: The Tradition of Constructivism''. The Viking Press. 1974. SBN 670-72301-0 * Heller, Steven, and Seymour Chwast. ''Graphic Style from Victorian to Digital''. New ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001. 53–57. * Lodder, Christina. ''Russian Constructivism''. Yale University Press; Reprint edition. 1985. * Rickey, George. ''Constructivism: Origins and Evolution''. George Braziller; Revised edition. 1995. * Alan Fowler. ''Constructivist Art in Britain 1913–2005''. University of Southampton. 2006. PhD Thesis. * Simon, Joshua (2013). Neomaterialism. Berlin: Sternberg Press. . * Gubbins, Pete. 2017. ''Constructivism to Minimal Art: from Revolution via Evolution'' (Winterley: Winterley Press).


External links


Resource on constructivism, focusing primarily on the movement in Russia and east-central Europe


*
Constructivist Book Covers
' * Russian Constructivism
MoMA.org
* International Constructivism
MoMA.org

The Influence of Interpersonal Relationships on the Functioning of the Constructivist Network
– an article by Michał Wenderski
Collection: "Soviet Constructivist Film Posters" from the University of Michigan Museum of Art
{{Authority control Art movements Modern art Russian avant-garde Architectural styles Abstract art