Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge poster by Lissitzky - Essay Example

Research: “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge” poster 1919 by El Lissitzky Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge has been an important lithographic Soviet propaganda poster created by the celebrated Russian artist Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (1890-1941), better known as El Lissitzky, in 1919 and a reflective analysis of the poster helps one in realizing the magnificence of El Lissitzky’s design in the background of new movements in painting. One of the most essential aspects of this illustrious work by El Lissitzky is that the artist effectively makes use direction, movement and hierarchy in the design of this poster and it best illustrates the major characteristics of the designs of El Lissitzky. Significantly, the use of geometric shapes and color in the poster, along with the great size of the work, guide the eyes of a viewer from left to right in the poster. In a focused and reflective visual analysis of the poster, the viewer becomes easily aware of most of the original purposes of the artist in creating this splendid work of art. In fact, the eyes of a careful viewer are first drawn to the large red triangle, followed by the white circle and the remaining black area neighboring the circle, and the text and the other inferior elements of the poster catch the attention of the viewer later on. A profound understanding of the historical as well as cultural context of the poster has a vital role in realizing the artist’s original intention in producing this work of art. The poster is celebrated as one of the first abstract works by El Lissitzky and it offers a convincing illustration of the ‘binary’ approach, which juxtaposes the textual with the figurative. “The work itself, which was intended for political propaganda (the “Red Wedge” is the Red Army, and the “Whites” are the counterrevolutionaries), was also one of El Lissitzky’s first abstract works. The poster represents a paramount example of … the ‘binary’ approach – here, the juxtaposition of the textual and the figurative – in which each element retains its individual significance, as in a binary opposition… The poster as a whole, besides being a work of political propaganda, thus exhibits an overt aesthetic function.” (Erjavec and Groĭs, 44) In a semiotic analysis of the poster, one recognizes that the textual aspect of the work becomes its form while the figures become the text of forms in the poster. On the one hand, one recognizes the deconstruction of letters and words in the poster, and, on the other, it is a magnificent figural work incorporating the signified as well as the graphism. Therefore, a reflective analysis of the poster by El Lissitzky brings out the artistic as well as political value of the work and this paper makes such an analysis of the poster. El Lissitzky was one of the leading figures of constructivism in art during the 1920s and his Bolshevik propaganda poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge is a perfect example of how the use of geometry and space can contribute to effective conveyance of the artist’s ideology. According to the Constructivists, the graphic design based on geometry and simplified Cyrillic script would be more accessible to the largely illiterate workforce and such a design can be effective in political propaganda. Significantly, El Lissitzky was one of the most influential and innovative designers of the 1920s who made the best use of geometry and space in order to convey his political message to the largely illiterate workforce of his time. “He used primary colors and geometric forms floating in space, believing this would be a universally understood visual language. Lissitzky wrote that the square was ‘the source of all creative expression’. His famous Bolshevik propaganda poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge made dynamic use of geometry and space – a red triangle piercing a white circle encouraged the viewer to strive for revolution.” (Raimes and Bhaskaran, 44) Therefore, a reflective analysis of the celebrated poster by El Lissitzky confirms that the artist has been a chief proponent in the new modes of depiction of the political ideas, making dynamic use of geometry and space. In his revolutionary poster of 1919, El Lissitzky makes use of a broken circle and its explosive and sharp-edged forms. In a careful analysis of the Bolshevik poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge by El Lissitzky, one realizes that the artist is effective in depicting the essential contest between the Bolsheviks and the anti-Revolutionary forces, and the poster has a great political message to convey. El Lissitzky effectively represents the political contest between the Bolsheviks and the anti-Revolutionary forces in the abstract language of elemental geometric forms as well as in dynamic typography. According to Simon Morley, “while words serve to anchor meaning in the controversial sense, Lissitzky’s goal was also to make this meaning explicit on a more tangible level through universal visual signs, and letters begin to assert themselves as pure visual presences (at the price of legibility). Their flat forms emphasize the two-dimensionality of the composition and echo the geometric elements, while the words disengage themselves entirely from the structure of the sentence, drawing together the two systems of signs, one controversial, the other… more concrete and obdurate.” (Morley, 95) Therefore, El Lissitzky’s celebrated poster makes use of both the abstract language of elemental geometric forms and dynamic typography in order to represent the dispute between the Bolsheviks and the anti-Revolutionary forces in Russian political history. Significantly, the party line in the Soviet Union had radically shifted by the late 1920s and the art of the day which found official fervor was more pragmatic about its role as loyal servant of the Soviets. Thus, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge has an essential political message to convey in the background of the clash between the Bolsheviks and the anti-Revolutionary forces and the artist is effective in conveying his political message. The poster is also celebrated as an important publishing activity directly attributed to the efforts of Unovis. Significantly, a formal analysis of the poster by El Lissitzky confirms that this Russian avant-garde artist has offered a convincing example of using abstract art for very obvious political message, though his 1919 lithograph Beat the white with the Red wedge. Due to the magnificent quality of his art, the artist has been highly effective in conveying this message to a focused and careful viewer of the poster. The primary observation of the poster brings into the attention of the viewer the color combination as well as the shapes in the work. Similarly, the text in Russian also attracts the viewer and other important features include the use of shape, line, color, texture, scale, proportion, balance, contrast, and rhythm etc One of the major aspects of these elements is that they effectively reveal the symbolism used in the poster. In this poster, a red triangle breaks through the perimeter of a circle and these forms and colors symbolically represent political ideas of the artist. “In Lissitzky’s Red wedge poster, the triangle and circle stand for political fractions and progressive political message.” (Poynor, 76) Thus, a careful observer of the poster comes to recognize that the intrusive red wedge in the poster symbolizes the Russian Bolsheviks and, as the white the standard color of anti-Revolutionary forces in Russia, it represents the anti-Revolutionary forces in the country. It is also important to comprehend the meaning of the textual aspect of the poster and the text in the left side of the poster reads “Klinom krasnim” which in Russian means “With Red Wedge”. Similarly, in the right side of the poster the text in Russian reads “Bey Belych” which means “Beat Whites”. The revolutionary spirit of El Lissitzky becomes lucid to the careful observer of the lithograph Beat the white with the Red wedge and the symbolism used in the poster, through the assistance of the text, color combination, and shapes, helps the artist in suggesting his political message to the viewer. Significantly, El Lissitzky, one of the most influential and innovative designers of the Russian Constructivists, offers an effective visual language to the poster which is designed to exploit modern technologies of mass communication. The artist is to has been effective in reaching the ‘vastly enlarged public sphere’ of the revolutionary classes of proletarians, peasants, intellectuals, and communists through the use of modern technologies of mass communication in his poster. Thus, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge is significant for its military, political and artistic overtones, and the artist makes use of abstraction and constructivism as direct visual language. “‘The Whites’ were counter-counter revolutionary forces, backed up by Cossacks and foreign interventionist armies, and pay-rolled by the imperial governments of the West, who sought by military means to overthrow the Bolsheviks in the period 1919-21. So Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge had military as well as political and artistic overtones. It used abstraction and constructivism as direct visual language. It communicated the relationship between the reds and the whites literally, as the penetration and destruction of the latter by the former.” (Hartley, 67) A close analysis of the poster makes clear that the artist has been effective using abstraction and constructivism as direct visual language and the poster presents the Red Wedge (Bolshevism) as dynamic, mobile, and strong, although it is of smaller dimensions in comparison to the white circle. The Red Wedge appears to be irresistible by visual and graphic means alone, along with some masculine psychology of perception. “Shape (triangle), color (red), line (dynamic diagonals) and composition all seemed to require the forward movement of the wedge into the broken white circle, adding up to victory (‘beat the whites’). Whatever its effect as propaganda, the poster was certainly influential in the histories of art and cultural studies…” (Hartley, 68) A more thorough analysis of the poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge clarifies that it makes use of the medium of poster and the original size of this work is 23 x 19 in. El Lissitzky makes use Suprematism as the style of creation and this poster belongs to the genre called Abstraction. A formal analysis of the lithographic Soviet propaganda poster by El Lissitzky brings out the various features of the work, with regard to its medium, size, location, and the use of shape, line, color, texture, scale, proportion, balance, contrast, and rhythm. The use of simple symbolism was an essential element of Lissitzky’s poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge and the use of abstract form had an immense role in the success of the poster. Another important aspect of the poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge is that it reveals the artistic exercise of El Lissitzky who studied architecture in Germany and later worked at UNOVIS. To El Lissitzky, the use of abstract art was a means to a political end and he makes use of this technique in several of his works, especially Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge which was designed during the civil war between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. “Here the message of Red (Bolshevik) power and domination is conveyed entirely in abstract terms through penetration of the red wedge into the white circle. The division of the poster further pits left against right and the diagonal composition and direction gives the wedge a decided ‘upper’ had as well.” (Raizman, 174) In conclusion, a reflective analysis of El Lissitzky’s his Bolshevik propaganda poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, exploring the materials, techniques and processes used by the artist, its iconography, symbolism, meaning, and historical and cultural context, helps one recognize that the poster is significant for its military, political and artistic overtones. Significantly, the artistic as well as political value of the work can be best comprehended in the historical and cultural context of the poster. Works Cited Erjavec, Aleš and Boris Groĭs. Postmodernism and the postsocialist condition: politicized art under late socialism. University of California Press. 2003. P 44. Hartley, John. A short history of cultural studies. SAGE. 2003. P 67. Morley, Simon. Writing on the wall: word and image in modern art. University of California Press. 2003. P 95. Poynor, Rick. No more rules: graphic design and postmodernism. Laurence King Publishing. 2003. P 76. Raimes, Jonathan and Lakshmi Bhaskaran. Retro Graphics: A Visual Sourcebook to 100 Years of Graphic Design. New York: Chronicle Books. 2007. P 44. Raizman, David. History of modern design: graphics and products since the Industrial Revolution. Laurence King Publishing. 2003. P 174. Read More