Russian Constructivism
Originating within the borders of Russia, Constructivism was the idea of rejecting art for arts sake, and using art as a practise catered towards pushing social change and serving only a social purpose. It is said that the development started after World War 1, as a means to push society to rebuild using a Utopian model, rather than the model used by the Tzars, that ultimately led towards the action of war.
Constructivist art is made entirely with being abstract in mind, with complete focus on being modern using geometric and experimental themes and it was rare they contained ANY emotion at all. One of the more famous artists within the movement was a man called Vladimir Tatlin who was an artist that had been employed by the new Soviet Education Commissariate which used artwork to help educate the public. One of his more famous pieces was called ‘Monument of the Third International’ which looked like a huge helter skelter with a big steel cylinder-like structure through the middle, on a slant.
How does it link to Typography?
During the span of the Soviet Union, propaganda was pushed out of the Kremlin to aid in educating the public in a number of different things, such as:
- Joining the Army
- Working hard
- Looking after our elders
- Be careful who you talk to
- Knowledge should be everyone
- Bring victory to your country
- More metal, more weapons to fight the world war
One artist in this movement was a man called Gustav Klutsis from Latvia. Before, during and after serving the Soviet revolutionary military, he studied art and painting. When finishing his military duty, he ended up studying at the progressive Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS). Throughout his study, he had rigorously studied elemental shapes and basic materials that were called for by the movement of Constructivism.
He had also adopted Photomontage, as a way to reinvest into advanced art, in which he called ‘Ideologically rich’ and felt that the mass audience would be able to instantly identify and find the pieces most compelling to view.
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