Alexander Rodchenko was born in 1891 in St. Petersburg Russia to a working class family. His father was a theater props manager and his mother was a laundress. As a result of their socioeconomic situation, there was little exposure to art or opportunity for artistic training while he was young. His formal artistic training began in 1910 when he was 21 years old. Rodchenko studied at the Kazan Art School under Nicolai Fechin and Georgii Medvedev. It was here that he met Varvara Stepanova, whom he later married. He went on to study at the Stroganov Institute in Moscow. (Lavrentiev) As a young adult coming to age in a time of political upheaval, Rodchenko’s art was profoundly influenced by the activism of the day. He became one of the leading …show more content…
constructivist artists during the movement’s infancy. While he became most well-known for his photography, he also worked in painting, abstract sculpture, and architecture often inventing or re-inventing techniques and meshing artistic approaches of the various mediums. His courage to experiment and his Avant- garde perspective paralleled the social and political transformations happening in Russia at the time. Rodchenko and other graphic designers of the early 1920s integrated political philosophy in order to bring “art into life”. (Railing) The term “Construction Art” was first used by Kazimir Malevich to describe the work of Alexander Rodchenko in 1917. Constructivism evolved from the Russian October Revolution in 1917 and lasted through the 1940s. Borrowing from Cubism, Suprematism, and Futurism, Constructivism was an entirely new approach to creating art. Constructivism focused on the tangible and material aspects of art and “aimed to abolish the traditional artistic concern with composition, and replace it with ‘construction’ and align art with industry and industrial production”. (Railing) It influenced art, book design, literary works, architecture, posters, industrial design, and theater. Rodchenko was a minimalist in painting, design and photography. His style used stripped down, geometric shapes, was non-emotional, and abstract. Rodchenko coined the term "non-objective art”. In the 1920’s, Rodchenko forsook fine art and painting and instead focused on photography, especially documentary photography. His work in photography spanned three decades from 1924 to 1954. His style was direct, used unconventional angles, harsh contrasts and emphasized perspective. One of his photography techniques became known in Russia as the “Rodchenko foreshortening technique”. He felt so strongly about photography that he wrote in his diary on March 14, 1934. "I must achieve this so that photography can begin to be considered a form of art". (Lavrentiev) Inspired by the work of Dadaists, he began experimenting with photomontage in 1923. Rodchenko began shooting his own photographs for montage when he wasn’t able to find images he needed. He believed he could use the medium of photomontage to advance the revolution. The first piece he published was a piece that illustrated a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky entitled About This. He would go on to collaborate with Mayakovsky throughout his career on advertising campaigns and in the designing LEF and Novy LEF, the publications of Constructivist artists. Their partnership was very successful and Rodchenko wrote in his diary, “We had completely conquered Moscow and completely shifted, or rather, changed the old, tsarist-bourgeois-Western style of advertising for the new Soviet”. (Mitchell) As described by Rodchenko, ‘The concept of “photomontage” comprises the use of photographs as figurative material, the combination of photographs instead of the combination and composition of artistic elements.
The point of this replacement lies in the photograph's not being the reflection of a fact made by an artist in a drawing, but a precisely caught and recorded fact. This precision and documentary quality make for such a forceful impression that, in painting or graphic art, it would be quite inadmissible. A poster with photographs is more effective than a poster with a drawing of the same subject.’ (Milner and …show more content…
Sokolov) In regards to advertising, the artistic innovations made by Rodchenko made mass production of print designs possible. The State commissioned over 100 posters and advertisements for food, light bulbs, clothing and rugs designed by Rodchenko (Railing). His expertise in photography and his creative and technical knowledge were a powerful combination for mass production of graphic design. In the 1930s, photography became the most important vehicle for propaganda. Documentary photography captured the reality of socialist construction; it could not be accused of dishonest reflection. “In a country where 70 per cent of the population couldn't read or write, photography was a powerful medium - Lenin himself had suggested during the civil war that each of his soldiers should carry not just a weapon but a camera, too.” (Secher) From 1934 anti-artistic and anti-Marxist doctrine of “socialist realism” was imposed upon creative cultural life. Party guidelines changed and because of the restrictions instated, he turned to photographing sporting events, the circus, parades and other choreographed events. The oppressive mandates led him to return to painting and he ended his photography in 1942. Alexander Rodchenko: Influential Designer of a Revolution Alexander Rodchenko was one of the most influential and successful avant-garde artists of his time.
The political environment of his youth in addition with his experimental and unapologetic approach ushered in a new era of artistic technique. His photography, graphic design and photomontage solidified the constructionist movement as an unequivocal force in the artistic, social and political world of the early 20th century. His first published photomontage “About This” shows the influences of Dadaists and Futurists. But unlike the crowded, chaotic styles of Dada, Rodchenko’s work appears more organized and purposeful. He uses geometric layouts, symmetry, diagonals and negative space to communicate. His photograph “On the Fire Escape” showcases Rodchenko’s preoccupation and expertise in unexpected perspective. This along with the stark contrasts between light and dark and the geometric shapes and lines of the ladder make it easy to identify as Rodchenko’s work. In speaking of his photography, he wrote: "One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again." (Mitchell) The photography, art and influence of Alexander Rodchenko is significant and cannot be underestimated. His avant-garde approach and philosophy had a ripple effect throughout the 20th century and continues to this
day.
Gallery 19 of the Museum of Modern Art features Pop Art trailblazers of the early 1960s, ranging from Roy Lichtenstein’s “Girl with Ball” to Andy Warhol’s “Gold Marilyn Monroe.” Alongside these emblematic works of art, there hangs a more simplistic piece: a six foot square canvas with three yellow letters, entitled “OOF.” The work of art, created by Ed Ruscha in 1962, is a painting that leaves little room for subjective interpretation as does the majority of his work. Ruscha represented the culture in the 1960s through his contributions to the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art, efforts to redefine what it meant for a painting to be fine art, and interpretation of the Space Race.
Having such an image before our eyes, often we fail to recognize the message it is trying to display from a certain point of view. Through Clark’s statement, it is evident that a photograph holds a graphic message, which mirrors the representation of our way of thinking with the world sights, which therefore engages other
Art is trapped in the cage of society, constantly being judged and interpreted regardless of the artist’s intent. There is no escaping it, however, there are ways to manage and manipulate the cage. Two such examples are Kandinsky 's Little Pleasures, and Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. Both pieces were very controversial and judged for being so different in their time, but they also had very specific ways of handling the criticism and even used it to their advantage. We will be looking at the motivations for each artwork, what made the art so outrageous, and the public’s reaction to the pieces.
Johnson, Priscilla and Leopold Labdez (eds.). Khrushchev and the Arts: the politics of Soviet Culture, 1962-64. MIT Press, 1965.
Russia witnessed an artistic revolution during the turn of the 20th century that attempted to overturn art's place in society. Today, we are witnessing a new revolution that is growing at an alarming rate and attracting a variety of people every day. This phenomenon is known as the Internet. The World Wide Web is more than a medium for education and research, but serves as a tool for preserving and glorifying the treasures of art. This paper will argue that through the Internet, society still inhabits the world created by the Russian avant-garde whose legacy lives on in art, dance, music, and social groups. Members of the Dada movement in Pre-Revolutionary Russia found themselves unable to communicate the excitement of the avant-garde, however, with the Internet, that excitement is once again re-lived.
Chekhov is part of a non-typical category of artists, because he did not believed in his genius, on the contrary, there are evidence that he believed that his work will not conquer time and posterity. Spectacular, just like Russia at the border between the 19th and 20th century, Chekhov was born the son of serfs in 1860 (Tsar Alexander will abolish serfdom in 1861) only to become a landlord 32 years later, and a neighbor of Prince Shakovskoi. He bought the Melikhovo estate (unconsciously imitating Tolstoy, the patriarch of Iasnaia Polyana), not far from Moscow, with 13 thousand rubles of which he has paid an advance of five thousand.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn carefully and tediously depicted what life is like in a prison. Ivans monotonous life prompts the reader initially to think that Ivans day is a living death of tedious details. Yet, in truth, Ivan i...
In the autumn of 1923, Rothko found work in New York’s garment district. While visiting a friend at the Art Students League of New York, he saw students sketching a model. This was the beginning of his life as an artist. He later enrolled in the Parsons the New School for Design. Where one of his instructors was the artist and class monitor Arshile Gorky. This was probably his first encounter with a member of the American avant-garde. However, the two men never became close, due to Gorky's dominating
At the first glimpse of Art and Vladek, there is a sharp view of Art’s childhood. Crying over b...
The painting was done near the beginning of the twentieth century when science was developing at a rapid rate. Einstein's Theory of Relativity was gaining ground at the time. Malevich's painting seemed to borrow from this theory that attempted to explain relative motion. His suprematism style attempted to capture a neo-realism in painting portraying pure feeling and perception. This new style was communicated by the discarding of natural references. Malevich grew tired of painting in the traditional style with everything looking and feeling the way they are in life. His new style tried to free viewer from their traditional a priori views concerning shape and colors imposed on them by their senses. Suprematist style focuses was on depictions of movement and dynamism. Flight and anti-gravity fascinated Malevich. Much of his paintings were a top down view of the subjects arranged on a white background. The white background represents infinite space, while the subjects were reduced to geometric blocks. The message of the paintings comes out in the relative position of the blocks to the background. The infinite background of the paintings is to divorce the paintings from the finite earth. Malevich himself said that his paintings "do not belong to the earth exclusively." The paintings sought to transcend to a different level. Malevich's suprematist style sought to take people to the fourth dimension, which was pure sensation.
"To me he seemed like a trapped man, whose only wish was to be left alone, to the peace of his own art and to the tragic destiny to which he, like most of his countrymen, has been forced to resign himself." Nicholas Nabokov on meeting Shostakovich in 1949 in New York
...nding things; putting them together and making them work. He often used subtle colours in his collages allowing for the occasional use of bold colours to act as a contrast. Similarly he would cut shapes into clear geometric forms, often to make some kind of statement. The influences of Cubism and Constructivism, can be seen in the arrangement and composition of his work.
Painting in the 19th century, still highly influenced by the spirit of Romanticism, proved to be a far more sensitive medium for the kind of personal expression one should expect from the romantic subjectivity of the time. At the very beginning of the “modern period” stands the imposing figure of Francisco Goya (1746-1828), the great independent painter from Spain. With much indebtedness to Velazquez, Rembrandt and the wonders of the natural world, Goya occupies the status of an artistic giant. His artistic range goes from the late Venetian Baroque through the brilliant impressionistic realism of his own to a late expressionism in which dark and powerful distor...
As a youth he reluctantly studied law, as much bore by it as Schumann had been, and even became a petty clerk in the Ministry of Justice. But in his early twenties he rebelled, and against his family's wishes had the courage to throw himself into the study of music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was a ready improviser, playing well for dancing and had a naturally rich sense of harmony, but was so little schooled as to be astonished when a cousin told him it was possible to modulate form any key to another. He went frequently to the Italian operas which at that time almost monopolized the Russian stage, and laid t...
Pop art is an art movement that questions the traditions of fine art and incorporates images from popular culture. Neo-Dada is an art trend that shares similarities in the method and/or intent to Dada art pieces. Both these movements emerged around the same time periods in history, the 1950s and 1960s, and artists from both generally got their inspiration from the Dada movement, which developed in the early 20th century. The movement altered how people viewed art, and it presented a variety of new methods and styles. Dada artists, also known as Dadaists, believed in showing their anti-war beliefs through their artwork. The Dada movement produced a different style of art, and pieces created controversy because they were outside the realm of what society considered art and what was expected and acceptable. This set in motion a chance for artists to be able to create the kind of artwork that inspires them, even though it was considered unorthodox. Even though they were controversial, many pieces that were created during Dada heavily influenced other styles of art to come after, such as Neo-Dada and Pop art. The influence of Dada can be seen in Robert Rauschenberg’s work, who was a Neo-Dadaist, and it can also be seen through Andy Warhol’s work, a Pop artist. Even though Dada affected both artists, they created very different pieces. This paper will analyze Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans and Rauschenberg’s White Painting (Three Panel) and discuss how they were impacted differently by the Dada movement, and why they are each considered to be different styles of artwork. The time in history of each artist was the same, and the same movement influenced them both, but the outcome of the art that they each created was incredibly different....