Constructing a Revolution
A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE AND THE OCTOBER REVOLUTIONThe Russian Avant Garde began in Russia in about 1915 It was the year that Malevich revealed his Suprematist compositions that reduced painting to total abstraction. and rid the pictures of any reference whatsoever to the visual world. He is credited with being the first artist to do this; that is, forsake the visual world for a world of pure feeling and sensation. This was the first movement originated by Russians and the birth of several other Avant Garde movements. Probably the most popular piece at his 1915 exhibition was "BLACK SQUARE" (real name "suprematist composition". It's basically a black square on a slightly larger white square that forms a border around it. It was hung in the exhibition in the way an icon would be hung in a peasant's home; ie top corner of the room. Malevich saw Suprematism as representing a yearning for space, an impulse to break free from the globe of the earth. It a spirit, a spirituality that went beyond anything before it. Among Malevich's students and contemporaries were such names as El Lissitzsky, Alexsandr Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin who were, of course,
In 1919 the Department for Artistic Work of the People's Commissariat for Enlightenment commissioned Tatlin to produce a monument for the Third International. George and Vladimir Sternberg were Constructivists who became widely recognised during this period. Tatlin's school, however, rejected easel painting. This was another reason for its unpopularity. Stalin started making very scary public statements about art and artists. The October revolution had been a primarily proletariat revolution and proletarians have proven to be somewhat negative in their attitude to new, radical confronting art styles and this was no exception. They succeeded in eliminating personal taste completely from the objects they produced. A few escaped to other countries in Europe. Constructivist art turned its attention to the people as humans, not as units for the revolution. Lenin said he did not know whether all these art forms were the highest manifestation of artistic genius or not; simply because he was unable to understand them. Their popularity didn't diminish very much but the punchiness of their art which was vital at the start of the revolution was no longer needed as much. A few caved in and became correct thinkers. Further, that although complete freedom was the right of every artist this did not mean free reign was to be the order of the day either. This was the work Tatlin is probably best known for, even though it was never built. There were quite a few constructivist buildings erected but virtually no Suprematist designs ever saw the light of day.
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Acceptance Essays
