Black Square. Kazimir Malevich, 1914-‐1915. Oil on canvas. 79.6 x 79.5 cm. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
SupremaFsm • Kazimir Malevich, Founder • Russia 1915-‐1919 • Pure and simple combinaFons of geometric forms • ReacFon to classic representaFonal art and Cubo-‐Futurism • Philosophical idealism that sFrred up a debate during the Modern Movement Suprema/sm. Kazimir Malevich, 1917-‐1918. Oil on canvas. 106 x 70.5 cm. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Kazimir Malevich • Born near Kiev in 1878 • ATended the Kiev School of Art at age 19 • Moved to Moscow in 1905 at the start of the December RevoluFon • Worked at Roerburg’s avant-‐garde studio • Also worked with avant-‐ garde arFsts Larionov and Goncharova
Kazimir Malevich’s Early Work
Summer Landscape. Oil on canvas. 48.5 x 55 cm The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Rest. Society in Top Hats. 1908. Watercolors, gouasche on cardbord. 23.8 x 30.2 cm The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Flowergirl. 1903. Oil on canvas. 80 x 100 cm. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
Head of a Peasant Girl. 1912 -‐1913. Oil on canvas. 72 x 74.5. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Victory Over the Sun
Many and One. Sketch of a costume for the opera "Victory over the Sun" by M. Matushin. 1913. Paper, pencil. 27 x 21 cm.
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Undertaker. Sketch of a costume for the opera "Victory over the Sun" by M. Matushin. 1913. Paper, pencil. 27 x 21 cm.
Someone Wicked. Sketch of a costume for the opera "Victory over the Sun" by M. Matushin. 1913. Paper, pencil. 27 x 21 cm.
Fat Man. Sketch of a costume for the opera "Victory over the Sun" by M. Matushin. 1913. Paper, pencil. 27 x 21 cm.
Russian Futurist Opera Costumes and set design by Kazimir Malevich Where Black Square is first seen as a cloth backdrop Poetry by Aleksei Kruchenyk Music by Mikhail Matyushin
0.10. The Last Futurist PainFng ExhibiFon Black Square. 1915. Oil on canvas. 106 x 106 cm. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Black Cross. 1915. Oil on canvas. 106 x 106 cm. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
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Black Circle. 1915. Oil on canvas. 105 x 105 cm. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
December 1915 in Petrograd Malevich showcased 36 SupremaFst painFngs along with a published manifesto Tatlin quarreled with Malevich Held a discussion on SupremaFsm Performed live painFng of a Cubist painFng
SupremaFst PainFngs by Malevich Suprema/sm with Blue Triangle and Black Square. 1915. Oil on canvas. 66.5 x 57 cm.
Suprema/st Composi/on: White on White. 1918. Oil on canvas 79.4 x 79.4 cm.
Suprema/sm with Eight Rectangles. 1915. Oil on canvas. 57.5 x 48.5 cm.
Red Square. Visual Realism of a Peasant Woman in Two Dimensions. 1915. Oil on canvas. 53 x 53 cm.
Malevich ConFnued SupremaFsm. 1915. Oil on canvas. 101.5 x 62 cm.
Soccer Player in the Fourth Dimension. 1915. Oil on canvas. 70 x 44 cm.
Suprema/sm. (Supremus #56). 1915. Oil on canvas. 80.5 x 71 cm.
Supremus Group • Founded by Malevich • SupremaFsm in Moscow, 1918 • Included Liubov Popova, Aleksandra Ekster, Nikolai SueFn, Ivan Puni, and others
Arhitectonic Pain/ng. Liubov Popova, 1917. Oil on canvas 80 x 90.5 cm. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Suprema/st Composi/on. Nikolai SueFn, 1922. Acrylic on paper 45 x 30 cm.
UNOVIS (Union of New Art) • Formed by Malevich in 1920 at the Vitebsk Art School • Group applied SupremaFst techniques to propaganda, street decoraFons, brochures, and speaker rostrums • El Lissitzky, work overlaps with ConstrucFvism
UNOVIS, Vitebsk Art CommiTee Handbill, no.1, 20 November 1920. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
ConstrucFvism • Began in Russia in the early 1920’s with a presence in Germany • Styles spread throughout Europe and reached LaFn America • “Art is dead!” – rejecFon of the “Art for art’s sake” idea that came before it • Focused on uFlity and art for a social and poliFcal purpose • DevoFon to pracFcal and industrial design
Produce More Tanks, El Lissitzky with Nikolai Troshin. 1942. Lithography.
ConstrucFvism • 3-‐Dimensional and Architectural work • Posters, street designs, stamps, magazines • Photography and photomontage
USSR in Construc/on, El Lissitzky with Sophie Küppers, no. 1. 1937. Devoted to the Workers’-‐Peasants Red Navy. Lithography and gravure.
Russia under ConstrucFon
Beat the Whites With the Red Wedge, El Lissitzky, 1920.
• Time of the Russian RevoluFon and WWI • Successful Bolshevik RevoluFon in 1917 • Bolshevik Party under Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky overthrew the authoritarian Tsar aristocracy • Russian Civil War between the Bolsheviks (“red”) and the anF-‐Bolsheviks (“whites”)
The Third ExhibiFon of the OBMKhU (Society of Young ArFsts) • Moscow, 1921 • 3-‐Dimensional experiments in construcFon • ScienFfically invesFgated systems of construcFon that could be applied to funcFonal and uFlitarian work • Loss of private market for art ajer the Bolshevik RevoluFon pushed arFsts into a role of reorganizing the Russian culture
InstallaFon of the third OBMOKhU exhibiFon, Moscow, May 1921. “ Veschch” no.1/2, 1922.
Vladimir Tatlin • Founder of ConstrucFvism • Born in 1885, grew up in Kharkov • Entered the Penza School of Art in 1904, became a well-‐ known painter • Came to Moscow in 1910 and entered the Moscow College of PainFng, Sculpture, and Architecture
Beginning of ConstrucFvism
Corner Relief (detail) Vladimir Tatlin. 1914-‐1915.
Pain/ng Relief: Selec/on of materials Vladimir Tatlin. 1914.
Tatlin’s Tower • Monument to the Third InternaFonal • 1919-‐1920 • Spiraled upward 400 m • Iron, glass, steel • Never built
Aleksandr Rodchenko, the end of painFng
Pure Blue Colour 1921 Private collecFon
Pure Red Colour 1921 Private collecFon
Pure Yellow Colour 1921 Private collecFon
• ConstrucFvist painter, sculptor, and photographer • Monochrome experiences • Ideals differed from SupremaFsm
Rodchenko’s ConstrucFvist Work Poster for Ba5leship Potemkin, 1925.
IllustraFon for the magazine 'Young Guard' 1924.
Dobrolet. 1923.
El Lissitzky • Worked with Malevich (UNOVIS) • Worked in Germany 1922-‐1925 • Translated arFcles from Russian arFsts to German • Did not reject the arFsFc aestheFcs like most Russian ConstrucFvists • Graphic designer, photographer • Help spread the movement through his extensive travels through Europe
USSR in ConstrucDon, with Sophie Kuppers, no. 10. 1934. Devoted to the epic of the Cheluskin exploraFon. Lithography and gravure.
Flagpole for the Soviet pavilion at Pressa, Cologne. 1928. Gouache, ink, photo collage on paper.
Lissitzky’s ConstrucFvist Work
Lissitzky’s ConstrucFvist Work
Design for a window mobile for a bookstore of the Land and Factory Publishing House. 1928. Photo collage, gouache, ink, pencil on cardboard.
MaqueTe for an illustraFon for 6 Tales with Easy Endings. 1921-‐22. Photo collage, ink, pencil on cardboard.
Soviet-‐German ConstrucFvism • • •
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El Lissitzky and Ilya Ehrenburg, Veshch/Gegenstand/Objet issue #1-‐2.
ConstrucFvism curriculum at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany László Moholy-‐Nagy, Hungarian Vladimir and Georgii Stengerg, brothers from Russia who designed movie posters Gustav Klutsis, Russian designer of propaganda posters “Veshch-‐Gegenstand-‐Objet”, Soviet-‐German magazine that spread the idea of “ConstrucFon Art” ran by El Lissitzky and Ilya Ehrenburg
Movie posters from the Stenberg Brothers, Russia 1922-‐1933.
Photo montages by Laszlo Moholy-‐Nagy
SupremaFsm’s Influence on Graphic Design •
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SupremaFsm’s use of geometric shapes show up in today’s Graphic Design world frequently The reducFon methods that define SupremaFsm are used in Graphic Design producFon Simplicity and white space are used in magazine layouts today
(SupremaFsm?... Maybe, but sFll don’t do this.)
ConstrucFvism’s Influence on Graphic Design • ConstrucFvism introduced the dynamic image/text relaFonship that is relevant in today’s Graphic Design • Photo collage and mixed media • Color blocking and geometric layouts in posters, newspapers, and magazines • ConstrucFvist styles show up in today’s visual culture