McMenamin: November 2011

Constructivism was one of the last and most influential modern art movement to come from Russia, appearing around 1915. It evolved just as the Bolsheviks came to power in the October Revolution of 1917, and initially it acted as a lightning rod for the hopes and ideas of many of the most advanced Russian artists who supported the revolution's goals. It used ideas from Cubism, Suprematism and Futurism, but as a whole was an entirely new approach to making objects, which thought to ditch the traditional artistic concern with composition, and replace it with construction.

Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953)

Said to be the founder of Constructivism and key member of the Russian avant-garde. Staged The Store exhibition in 1916. Best known for his unfinished Monument to the Third International. Never actually made, plans for it to be erected in St Petersburg, this was said to of not been safe enough to sub-stand weather.

Kasimir Malevich (1878 - 1935)

Malevich invented Suprematism in 1913, an early state of constructivism. This was a rt characterized by symbolic positioning of squares and rectangles framed by negative space. Malevich rejected pictorial representation, instead looking to capture the "expression of feeling…"

Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956)

Painter and photographer. Invented the term "non-objective art", referring to geometric abstraction. became the leader of the First Working Group of Constructivists in 1921, one of the first Russian artists, along with Tatlin, to switch to industrial design. Also known for his photographs of Soviet Russia. The most recent example of Constructivism is the Franz Ferdinand album, you can have it so much better 2005, this reworks the famous Rodchenko photomontage ‘books’ from 1924.

Naum Gabo (1890 -1977)

Gabo was a russian sculptor in the Constructivism movement and a seeker to kinetic arts. Two of the most famous and still standing sculptures are seen outside the Guys and St Thomas’s hospital in London, this has been reworked into a fountain. The other is a giant metal sculpture in the middle of the city of Rotterdam, what has become a great tourist attraction.

El Lissitzky (1890 - 1941)

Russian designer, typographer, artist, photographer and architect was also an important figure of the Avant Garde. Most famous for his Graphic Design, El was said to set the Constructivist typography its own distinctive look, letters and words were at right angles to each other, they were framed by bold rules and borders printed in one or two primary colors. This was due to the lack of materials during the russian civil war.

Soviet Union (1850 - 1960)

A term used to define the large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in Russia, also known as the Russian Empire and the Russian Avant Garde. The term covers many art movements at the time, including neo-primitivism, suprematism, constructivism, and futurism.