Rodchenko and Popova and Architecture of the Constructivist Period - Essay Example

?Rodchenko and Popova and Architecture of the Constructivist Period Introduction The various art movements throughout history played important roles that popularised the current social and political upheavals of their periods. Some art movements preceded and influenced revolutions, others became representative of the regimes and societal demand, while still others became the response of the societal demand. Those which influenced actual revolutions and changes are considered phenomenal, and one of the more specific in this instance is constructivism. Constructivism is an artistic philosophy understood to have rejected the idea of autonomous art and instead used art for social purposes spanning its influence not only in architecture but also on industrial design, fashion, and performing arts music, dance and theatre. Aleksander Michailovich Rodchenko was seen as originator whose work was mocked as construction art by another artist Kazimir Malevich in 1917. The word evolved to become an honourable term by 1920 in the Realistic Manifesto of Naum Gabo while Alexei Gan used it as title of his book Constructivism printed in 1922 (Cooke, 1995, 106). As an art, it combines the particular properties of an object as well as its spatial presence, thus, presentation in three-dimension although it would soon encompass two-dimensional works of books, posters, montage and factography (Cooke, 1995). In this essay, it will be demonstrated how the works of arts and expressions of Russian avant- garde artists Lyubov Popova and Aleksandr Rodchenko have significantly influenced constructivism and how their principles were applied in constructive architecture. Constructivism is described as the objective analysis of a systematic practice which consists of set of principles (scientific) to be applied in the production of useful goods (Fer, 1989, 16). In this context, the pioneer constructivist artists have incorporated and explored the different elements of arts i.e. line, color, plane, volume, space, material etc. beyond their traditional uses so that they (artists) could freely express their feelings and to produce utilitarian/practical works. Constructivism has opposed the traditional art which is figurative and decorative. The constructivists have exhibited a new territory of imagination to convey futuristic design (Brandy, 2009). In addition, constructivism also literally utilized industrial materials such as wood or marble dust [Figure 5] to exhibit artifice and illusion (Fer 1989, & Aspden, 2009). Discussion Constructivism was seen to be a reaction of Russian artists on the pomposity of the previous eras about high art. In addition, there was already an on-going Russian Futurism exexmplified by industrial, angular styles, soon, works of the likes of Malevich’s Suprematism showed geometric abstraction (Cooke, 1995). It has not been easily accepted during the earlier period. In 1920 during the formative years of constructivism, Rodchenko was commissioned by the Bolshevik government as director of the Museum Bureau and Purchasing Fund. He was not only a teacher but responsible in the reorganisation of art schools as well as museums. Much propaganda at that time both governmental and otherwise used Rodchenko’s art, design and concepts that saw the debut of “the end of painting” (Akbar, 2009, P 1). Together with his comrade Liubov Popova, they bid their farewell to the bourgeois practice of painting which they described as frivolous and pretentious (Cooke, 1995). Aside from industry shaping the Russian Futurism, the constructivist also were engaged in festivals, street designs, and post-revolution of the Bolshevik government where the UNOVIS group of Malevich propaganda plaques and buildings such as the 1919 work of El Lissitzky’s Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge. In their works as exemplified by Rodchenko, POpova and their fellow artists, a new explosion of creativity and innovative styles was integrated in the paintings which he both applied rushing diagonal lines and bold colours [Figure 1& 2]. Rodchenko believed that line is the most fundamental elements of art because it creates the structure itself and manifest the various expression of movements. He also emphasized that without lines, work/production of art would be impossible (Railing, 1998). In [Figure 1], lines were gradually used to surface as the primary element for the construction of forms in the painting (Fer, 1989). Likewise, in an attempt to achieve industrial impersonality [Figure 2], he mechanically applied in his painting shifting tones/shades of black paint in his overlapping oval shapes to give emphasis to the density of the surface (Aspden, 2009). In an exhibition staged in September 1921, five Russian artists led by Rodchenko and Popova, the pointlessness of painting was highlighted. The show called 5X5=25, the Soviet regime was exemplified. Rodchenko’s group presented the Soviet regime as they designed posters such as the iconic image for the film Battleship Potemkin. It was also in this exhibition that Rodchenko’s representative work of triptych [Fig 6] of blank canvasses with bold, bad colours of pure blue, pure yellow and pure red was unveiled. This caused great critical outrage in Moscow where the works were laughed at and ridiculed. It would be later described as “Pure Blue Color” is almost black and “Pure Yellow Color” is the sickly shade of pus from a gangrenous wound. Luckily, for a card-carrying member of the Communist party, “Pure Red Color” is still holding up quite well,” (Liddell, 2010, P6) even in modern times when nothing could shock audiences anymore. Later, Rodchenko explained the triptych as a logical conclusion where painting was reduced, “I affirmed: it’s all over,” (Akbar, 2009, P4). Rodchenko, Popova and the other artists with them during that exhibit soon searched for more practical arts and design that were useful for everyday life: graphic design, advertising, and photography. However, these works were also the un-subliminal messages of protest or epitome of inefficiencies of the Soviet-planned economy when in 1921, a major famine caused by the Socialist intervention of the traditional agricultural economy killed about 5 million people. This has led to the New Economic Policy in 1921-28 reviving a capitalist system (Liddell, 2010, P7). Rodchenko and his team at this time designed posters that stimulated demand for products by consumers. Small scale enterprises were allowed as large, state-owned corporations copied the market capitalist techniques of the west (Liddell, 2010, P7). Liddell (2010) further noted the influence of Rodchenko that defied time as today’s generation of artists, graphic designers, advertising industry, and even bands like Franz Ferdinand still are inspired by the use of daring blocks or eye-catching colour, simple geometric shapes, vivid fonts, simple messages. In like manner, too, consumers support these patterns and costume designs (Liddell, 2010, P9). In the same manner, Popova has also integrate radical and modern styles in her artworks wherein in she explored and experimented the use of bold colours, geometric shapes/forms, and diagonal lines. In [Figure 3], Popova had constructed overlapping and rigorous combinations of several geometric shapes which she painted with various ranges of bold colours to replace the traditional use of pure colours which she believed altered profoundly by time (Brady, 2009). Meanwhile, in [Figure 4] Popova had utilized rushing diagonal lines to form geometric forms/shapes. In addition, she also exhibited another form of constructivist art [Figure 5] which consist of semi-circles and diagonal lines painted in vibrant colors with marble dust in order to create illusion and ingenuity (Aspden, 2009). Popova’s work “showed canvases which had so little involvement, they were almost bare. She was showing the thinness of painting. The response it got was a negative one. People were just laughing, or being very mocking and critical,” according to Margarita Tupitsyn, a curator of the Tate Modern (Akbar, 2009, P7). This has been considered successful at a time when there was debate about the usefulness of things not only in Russia but elsewhere as the industrial revolution had people start thinking about commodities and practical uses of made things. “The debate was about creating things that had some purpose in society. By denying painting, it was their attempt to escape the idea of creating art as commodity,” Tupitsyn said (Akbar, 2009, P8). In the field of architectural design, the principle of constructivism was found to be the solution to various design problems (Fer, 1989). In the words of Liddell, Constructivism “followed the logic of industrial expediency to its limits, combined with a strong sense of iconoclasm for traditional art. The emphasis was on breaking with the past and justifying aesthetics by their social utility—often, ironically enough, with a very bourgeois sense of self-dramatization,” (2010, P 2). Figure 1: Aleksandr Rodchenko, Non-Objective Painting, 1919, oil in canvas Source: Briony Fer, 1989 Figure 2 Aleksandr Rodchenko, Black on Black, 1918, oil on canvas Source: Source: Briony Fer, 1989 Figure 3 Lyubov Popova, Painterly Architectonic: The shape of things to come, 1918 Source: David Brady, 2009 Figure 4: Lyubov Popova, Constructivist Composition, 1921, oil on panel Source: Briony Fer, 1989 Figure 5 Lyubov Popova, Spatial Force Construction, 1920-1921, oil with marble dust on wood Source: Briony Fer, 1989 Figure 6 Rodchenko’s Pure Red Colour, Pure Yellow Colour and Pure Blue Colour Source: Akbar, 2009. Cultural Implication The denial of the “high” art by Rodchenko, Popova, and their colleagues was a direct statement of the socialist ideal of usefulness. A denial that showed a negation about painting – that painting should not be commoditised. For the constructivists, there was a need to create a new culture that would engaged the viewer actively. The various movements at that time worked closely together with the Constructivists such as the Russian Formalists that made strange things exemplified by artist Viktor Shklovsky and Osip Brik. At the same time, the artists were also involved with the ROSTA Window or the Bolshevik publicinformation campaign in the 1920s (Cooke, 1995). Functionality in design, at that time, however, was relegated to houses and bridges, and should not intrude on art as Vladimir Tatlin’s 1919 Monument to the Third International used machine aesthetics and dynamic components like searchlights and projection screens. Constructivism was seen to lack spirit although utilitarian. By 1922, the group already influenced German artists such as El Lissitsky and Ilya Ehrenburg. They worked with Dadaists and De Stijl. Tatlin further pushed the limits for the movement not only as an art but industry with his designs on economical stove, workers’ overalls, and even furniture. In 1921 when Soviet Union launched the New Economic Policy, the Constructivists provided arts and design for advertising of cooperatives that competed with private and commercial businesses. Their works were eye-catching with its bright colours, bold, simple lettering, direct context, and used geometric shapes. It was said that the intention of the advertising were to create reaction. The posters were used to promote a variety of household items such as pacifiers, beer, cooking oil, and others, mainly for the retailer and state-owned department store Mosselprom. These designs were also employed in clothes. The artists as noted by Cooke (1995) tried to balance their involvement in fashion and the mass market with their Communist beliefs. Their influence were adapted in cinema as they organised themselves as the Left Front of the Arts producing not only the LEF journal but also maintaining avant-garde using cinema such as in the production of 1919 The Young Lady and the Hooligans. Rodchenk worked on the intertitles and animation for the 1924 Kino Eye by Dziga Vertov. Another constructivist Aleksandra Ekster designed the sets and costumes for Aelita, a 1924 science fiction movie (Cooke, 1995). In photography, Rodchenko’s interest was also kindled as he used photographic images in his works creating photomontage seen to have similarities with Dadaism although much more positive as exemplified in his About This, a depiction of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s work (Cooke, 1995). In graphic design, Rodchenko produced many book designs inspiring even radical western designers like Jan Tschichold. Posters for everyday products, cinema, and political propaganda were created by Constructivists using bright colours, geometric shapes, and agitational photomontage. Many constructivists remain in the service of the government throughout the USSR In Construction magazine (Aspden, 2009). In like manner, architects were inspired by the works of constructivist because of the fact that it exhibits new form of creation which combines functional and utilitarian use of design. The simple geometric forms, strong diagonal lines and bold colours were directly applied by architects in their concrete, steel and glass works. The concern on space and rhythm were exemplified in the works of the architectural group O.S.A. (Aspden, 2009). In popularising Constructivism, the artists were able to spread it in Europe particularly Germany and England, the United States, and other parts of the world. Constructivists also lectured the Bauhaus schools in Germany as VKhuUTEMAS methods were also employed and improved (Rickey, 1995). Influence of Rodchenko and Popova Many graphic designers of the 20th century are said to be influenced by constructivists, particularly Rodchenko. One of his most notable influence is not only the use of the three dimensional art but also of the establishment of the true monochromes or works of art using only one colour. This proclamation in the world of art, the end of art as Rodchenko said, meant a new life for Russians, a new mode of production as well as a new culture (Rickey, 1995). Popova on the other hand showed much interest in Italian Renaissance paintings, but soon leaned towards cubo-futurism or what she called painterly architectonics as exemplified by her 1913 Composition with Figures. The work exemplified her two other influences, French and Italian. She contributed in the Knave of Diamonds exhibits as well as in Tramway V, 0.10, and Store. Her work relied heavily on abstract form with energetic overlap and intersection of angular planes. In addition, the works of Popova achieved balance using proportionate compositions and iconic focus with strong primary colour at the centre. She also joined the Supremus group of Malevich and worked at the Verbovka Village Folk Centre. It had been their intent to remake the world if not create a new physical world (Bowlt and Drutt, 1999). She later joined Rodchenko and worked with books, posters, fabric and theatre design Conclusion The Constructivist works of Aleksander Michailovich Rodchenko and Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova are not very identical in evolution and description. Rodchecnko was the more influential one between the two although he is an originator in art and design himself, whose influence span from the time constructivist art was noticed until today when attention and immediate transfer of message is needed, a necessity in advertising and modern communication. However, their works not only became iconic in ways that they served their purposes well, which was their intent in the first place: functionality. Their statement about the commodification of art or its frivolousness, too, was fully taken and understood with their depiction of ugly, attention-grabbing graphics. They successfully questioned the previous periods’ as well as their time’s affliction with works of arts: what connection it lacked about the lives of peoples. Their legacy may still be adoptable until today when society remains confused about their state and goals: there are many luxurious items that blind very few people who can afford them and those who do their best to be able to afford them, about separation and division of the classes of peoples, and the widening gap between rich and poor. Constructivist statements may still work hopefully for a few but market forces will be more powerful to avert logic. References: Akbar, Arifa. (2009) Drawing a blank: Russian constructivist makes late Tate debut. The Independent January 27. Accessed from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/drawing-a-blank-russian-constructivist-makes-late-tate-debut-1516801.html Aspden, R. (2009). Constructing a new world. New Statesman, Vol. 138, Issue 4933. pp40-43. Brady, D. (2009). Artists who came in from the cold. Building Design, Issue 1856. Pp. 16-17. Bowlt, John, and Drutt, Matthew (1999)Amazons of the Avant-Garde, Guggenheim Museum, New York. Cooke, Catherine (1995) Russian Avant-Garde: Theories of Art, Architecture and the City, Academy Editions. Fer, B. (1989) Metaphor and Modernity: Russian Constructivism. Oxford University Press: Oxford Art Journal, Vol.12, No.1., pp. 14-30. Liddell, C.B. (2010) Rodchenko & Stepanova: Visions of Constructivism. Metropolis. May 13, Issue: 842. Accessed from http://metropolis.co.jp/arts/art-reviews/rodchenko-stepanova-visions-of-constructivism/ Railing, P. (1998). The Cognitive Line in Russian Avant-Garde Art. Leonardo, Vol. 31, No.1, pp. 67-73. Rickey, George (1995). Constructivism: Origins and Evolution. George Braziller (ed); Revised edition. Read More