Cover of Konstruktivizm by Aleksei Gan 1922

The term of faktura () emerged in

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 ...

art criticism before the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

David Burliuk David Davidovich Burliuk (; 21 July 1882 – 15 January 1967) was a Russian poet, artist and publicist of Ukrainian origin associated with the Futurism (art), Futurist and Neo-Primitivist movements. Burliuk has been described as "the father of ...

used the term as a Russian equivalent of the French word "facture" which refers to the texture of the painted surface.

Voldemārs Matvejs Voldemārs Matvejs (1877–1914) was a Latvian artist and art theorist. Despite dying in 1914, he was to have a significant impact on the development of Soviet art. Nikolay Punin remarked: "If he had not died so early he would have been the fi ...

used the term in his 1914 text "Printsipy tvorchestva v plasticheskikh iskussvakh: Faktura (Principles of Creation in the Visual Arts: Faktura). It was later developed by

Russian Constructivism Constructivism is an early twentieth-century art movement founded in 1915 by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko. Abstract and austere, constructivist art aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space. The movement rejected d ...

. Alongside tectonics and construction, faktura constituted one of the three core principles defined by

Aleksei Gan Aleksei Mikhailovich Gan (Russian language, Russian: Алексей Михайлович Ган; born Imberkh; 1887 or 1893 – 8 September, 1942) was a Russian anarchist and later Marxism, Marxist avant-garde artist, art theorist and graphic ...

in his book '' Konstruktivizm''. In the period 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 ...

, new definitions of art had to be found, such as the definition of art objects as "laboratory experiments". "Faktura" was the single most important quality of these art objects, according to the critic Victor Shklovsky, referring to the material aspect of the appearance. The surface of the object had to demonstrate how it had been made, exhibiting its own distinct property. Thus Faktura could be characterised as the visual demonstration of properties inherent to materials, as illustrated in ''Corner Counter Relief'' (1914) 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, ...

References

Russian avant-garde {{art-hist-stub