09 Constructivism

8/2/2019 09 Constructivism

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A NewLanguageof Form

Russia was torn by the turbulence ofWWI and then the Russian Revolutionin the second decade of the 20thcentury.

During this period of political trauma, abrief flowering of creative art in Russia

had an international influence on 20thcentury graphic design.

MalevichRodchenkoLissitzky

van Doesburg

Mondrian


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The Russian avant-garde saw commontraits in cubism andfuturism and coinedthe term cubo-futurism.

Experimentation intypography and designcharacterized theirfuturist publications,which presented workby the visual andliterary artcommunities.


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David and VladimirBurliuk, pages fromVladimir Mayakovski:A Tragedy, 1914.

In an effort to relatevisual form to

meaning, Russianfuturist graphic designmixed type weights,sizes, and styles.


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Ilja Zdanevich, insertcover of Milliork, byAleksei Kruchenykh,1919.

Zdanevichs coverillustrates the

influence of Dada andFuturism on theRussian avant-garde.


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Kasimir MalevichBlack Square1915

He founded a paintingstyle of basic formsand pure color he

called suprematism.

After working in themanner of futurismand cubism, Malevichcreated an elementalgeometric abstractionthat was new and

totally non-objective.


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Black Circle1913


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Kasimir Malevich,SuprematistComposition, 1915.

A symphonicarrangement ofelemental shapes of

luminous color on awhite field becomesan expression of purefeeling.


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White On White1917

He rejected both utilitarianfunction and pictorialrepresentation, insteadseeking the supreme

expression of feeling,

seeking no practical

values, no ideas, no

promised land.

He believed the essenceof the art experience wasthe perceptual effect of

color and form.


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Suprematism(Self-Portrait)1915


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Suprematism1916


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Suprematism1921-27


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Kasimir Malevich, cover ofPervyi tsikl lektsii (FirstCircle of Lectures), byNikolai Punin. Asuprematist composition iscombined with typography,1920.


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The Russian movementwas actually acceleratedby the revolution.

Leftist artists had beenopposed to the old orderand its conservative visual

art. In 1917 they turnedtheir energies to amassive propaganda effortin support of therevolutionaries, but by1920 a deep ideologicalsplit developed concerningthe role of the artist in the

new communist state.

Some artists, includingMalevich and Kandinsky,argued that art mustremain an essentiallyspiritual activity apart from

the utilitarian needs ofsociety.


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Led by Vladimir Tatlin andAlexander Rodchenko,twenty-five artistsadvanced the opposingviewpoint in 1921, whenthey renounced art forarts sake to devote

themselves to industrialdesign, visualcommunications, andapplied arts serving thenew communist society.

These constructivistscalled on artists to stop

making such uselessthings as paintings in favorof posters for the good ofsociety.


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Alexander RodchenkoPortrait of Lilya Brik


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Alexander RodchenkoPortrait of Lilya Brik

Lengiz. Books on all thebranches of knowledge1924


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Franz FerdinandAlbum Cover


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The constructivist idealwas best realized by thepainter, architect, graphicdesigner, andphotographer El Lissitzky.

This visionary profoundly

influenced the course ofgraphic design.


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In contrast to the absoluteflatness of Malevichspicture plane, PROUNS

(an acronym for projectsfor the establishment[affirmation] of a new art)introduced three-

dimensional illusions thatboth receded behind thepicture plane andprojected forward.

PROUN 23, no. 61919


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Lissitzky saw the RussianRevolution as a newbeginning for mankind.

Communism and socialengineering would createa new order, technology

would provide forsocietys needs, and theartist/designer would forgea unity between art andtechnology by constructinga new world of objects toprovide mankind with aricher society and

environment.

Proun 19D1922


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LissitzkyUntitled1919


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LissitzkyCover from Komitet pobor'be s bezrabotnitsei1919


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LissitzkyBeat the Whiteswith the RedWedge1919

The Bolshevik army

emblem, a redwedge, slashesdiagonally into awhite spheresignifying AleksandrKerenskys white

forces. Theslogans four words

are placed toreinforce thedynamicmovement.


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LissitzkyOn New Systems in Art:Statics and Speed1919


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El Lissitzky, cover forVeshch, 1922.

Mechanical drawinginstruments were used toconstruct geometricletterforms in a different

style for each title; smalltypeset type was pasted infor plating.


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El Lissitzky, title page forVeshch, 1922.

Lissitzky searched for ageometric organizationalsystem relating type,geometric elements, and

photographs as elementsin a whole. These goalswere achieved by 1924.


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El Lissitzky, layout for aBroom cover, vol. 5, no. 3,1922.

Isometric perspectiveletterforms are upsidedown and backward in the

second title presentation,achieving a subtle vitalityin a rigorously symmetricaldesign.


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LissitzkySoviet Union Pressphotomontageexhibition catalog1928


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LissitzkySoviet Union Pressphotomontageexhibition catalog1928


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LissitzkyPoster for Pelikan ink1925


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Lissitzkycover1921


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Lissitzkycover1923


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LissitzkyPage layout1923


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El Lissitzky, bookcover for The Isms ofArt, 1924.

Complex typographicinformation isorganized into acohesive whole bythe construction ofstructuralrelationships.

A N


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El Lissitzky, title pagefor The Isms of Art,1924.

The graphic spiritachieved by medium-weight sans-seriftype, mathematicaldivision of the space,white areas, and boldrules established atypographic standardfor the modernmovement.

A N


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El Lissitzky, textformat for The Ismsof Art, 1924.

Rigorous verticalsseparate German,French, and Englishtexts, and horizontalbars emphasize animportant introductoryquotation.

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El Lissitzky, pictorialspread from The Ismsof Art, 1924.

The grid systems ofthe precedingtypographic pagesare echoed in theplacement of theimages, which areone, two, and threecolumns wide.

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El Lissitzky, cover ofZapisky poeta (Notesof a Poet), by IliaSelvinskii, 1928

Using photomontage,Lissitzky combinedpositive and negativeimages of the poet.

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El Lissitzky, cover ofArkhitektura(Architecture), 1927.

The strong structuralproperties of thecomposition suggestLissitzkysarchitectural training.

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El Lissitzky, exhibitionposter, 1929.

In this stark, powerfulimage, the youth of acollective society arecloned into an anonymousdouble-portrait above theexhibition structuredesigned by Lissitzky.

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El Lissitzky, letter toKatherine Dreier, 1926.

Lissitzkys letterhead wasalso a constructiviststatement.

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El Lissitzky, exhibitiondesign for Pressa, 1928.

Light, sound, and motionbecome design elements.Belts symbolic of webprinting are in continuousmovement in thispublishing-industry design.

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AlexanderRodchenko was anardent communistwho brought aninventive spirit andwillingness toexperiment totypography, montage,and photography.

Covers for Lef (Left)1923

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AlexanderRodchenko, cover forNovyi lef, no. 1, 1923.

The logo is printed intight registration, withthe top half of theletterforms red andthe bottom half black.

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In this earlyphotomontage, themontage is crossedout, negating the oldorder; young childrensymbolize the newsociety.

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A biplane bearing themagazine logo dropsa fountain-pen bombat a gorillarepresenting thetraditional arts of theczarist regime.


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A biplane bearing themagazine logo dropsa fountain-pen bombat a gorillarepresenting thetraditional arts of theczarist regime.

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AlexanderRodchenko,paperback bookcovers for the JimDollar series, 1924.

Consistency isachieved throughstandardized format;montages illustrateeach story.

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RodchenkoPoster1923

There was no betterand there are nobetter baby

dummies...,

advertising for theRezinotrest

(Rubber Trust)Company

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RodchenkoPoster1926

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RodchenkoPoster1926

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Gustav Klutsis,Everyone Must Vote

in the Election ofSoviets series,

poster, 1930.

This same montagewas used for various

campaigns.

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RodchenkoPoster1926

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eLanguageof Form

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More on Rodchenko

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i29tL-LHyY8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i29tL-LHyY8


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De Stijl

The De Stijl movement waslaunched in the Netherlands in thelate summer of 1917.

Its founder and guiding spirit, Theovan Doesburg, was joined by

painters Piet Mondrian, BartAnthony van der Leck, and VilmosHuszar, architect Jacobus JohannesPieter out, and others.

Working in an abstract geometricstyle, De Stijl sought universal laws

of equilibrium and harmony for art,which could then be a prototype fora new social order.

A New


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MondrianComposition withLarge Blue Plane,Red, Black, Yellow,and Gray1921

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MondrianComposition with Yellow,Blue, and Red193742

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MondrianComposition withBlue, Yellow, Black,and Red1922

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MondrianComposition withYellow Patch1930

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MondrianRhythm of BlackLinesc. 1935/42

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MondrianLozengeComposition withRed, Black, Blue,and Yellow1925

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MondrianComposition withYellow, Blue andRed1937-42

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Van DoesburgBook jacket1925

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Tho van Doesburgand KurtSchwitters, KleineDada Soire,

poster, 1922.

This posterillustrates the Dada

side of VanDoesburgs artisticpersonality.

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Tho vanDoesburg, cover forDe Stijl, 1922.

Type isasymmetricallybalanced in the fourcorners of an

implied rectangle.De Stijl is combinedwith the letters Nand B, whichindicated NieuweBeelden (NewImages).

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El Lissitzky, coverof De Stijl, 1922.

Van Doesburginvited Lissitzky todesign and edit anissue of De Stijl thatreprinted the

original Russianpublication A Tale

of Two Squares in

Dutch.

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Languageof Form

Gerrit Rietveld,model for theSchroeder House,Utrecht, 1924.

A new architectureis composed ofplanes in a square.

09 Constructivism

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