Alexei Gan at the First OSA Conference 1928

Aleksei Mikhailovich Gan (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Алексей Михайлович Ган; born Imberkh; 1887Kristin Romberg, Aleksei Gan's Constructivism, 1917-1928. New York: Columbia University, 2010, Ph.D. Dissertation.
/ref> or 1893 – 8 September, 1942) was a Russian anarchist and later

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

avant-garde artist, art theorist and graphic designer. Gan was a key figure in the development of

Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in the Soviet Union in t ...

after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

Life

Cover of Konstruktivizm by Aleksei Gan 1922

Gan's involvement with creative activity began in 1917 when he became involved with the Moscow Union of Food Workers with whom he set up an amateur theatrical group. The group encompassed various political groupings and following the Bolshevik seizure of power, some joined the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, others the

Black Guards Black Guards () were armed groups of workers formed after the February Revolution and before the final Bolshevik suppression of other left-wing groups. They were the main strike force of the anarchists. They were created in the Summer of 1917 i ...

or affiliated to the

Left Socialist-Revolutionaries The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries-Internationalists () was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Russian Pro ...

. Gan reorganised the group as the Proletarian Theatre, which affiliated to the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups. Gan was the first to write on art in the anarchist newspaper ''

Anarkhiia ''Anarkhiia'' was Russian language, Russian weekly, then daily newspaper published by the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups. It was edited by German Askarov. It was first launched in September 1917, published from the headquarters of the MFAG i ...

'' (Anarchy) when it introduced an art section in early 1918. In March 1921, Gan was one of the seven artists, including

Alexander Rodchenko Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (; – 3 December 1956) was a Russian and Soviet artist, sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer. He was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design; he was married to the artist Varvara Stepa ...

and his wife

Varvara Stepanova Varvara Fyodorovna Stepanova (; – May 20, 1958) was a Russian artist. With her husband Alexander Rodchenko, she was associated with the Constructivist branch of the Russian avant-garde, which rejected aesthetic values in favour of revolutiona ...

, who announced themselves as the First Working Group of Constructivists. The group rejected fine art in favour of graphic design, photography, posters, and political propaganda. Gan collaborated with Aleksandr Rodchenko and

on a Constructivist manifesto in 1922, and published his own pamphlet ''Konstruktivism'' in the same year. He also founded the first Soviet film journal, '' Kino-Fot'' (or ''Kinofot''), in 1922. In 1928 he was one of the founders of the October Group. He married Esfir Shub, a prominent female soviet documentary filmmaker. Gan was arrested for "counter-revolutionary" activities in October 1941, found guilty in August 1942, and executed on 8 September 1942.

Selected works

Written

*''Konstruktivizm'' (Constructivism). Tver: Tver'skoe izdatel' stvo, 1923.

Films

*''The Island of the Young Pioneers'', 1924. (Documentary) *''The Seventh October'', *''Trades Unions'' *''Greetings Teamworkers'' *''In the Battle for Time and Space'' (unknown whether completed)

References

External links

MOMA page on Gan.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gan, Aleksei Constructivism (art) Russian designers 19th-century births 1942 deaths Year of birth uncertain Russian Marxists Russian anarchists Soviet anarchists Anarchists executed by the Soviet Union