Artist Research: Propaganda

CONSTRUCTIVISM 

Industry production in Russia during the beginning of the nineteenth century redefined the way humanity divided labour and wealth, the revolution in Russia and Germany during 1914 and 1918 resulted in the breakdown of established political structures, social order and cultural cohesion in Europe. However in the meantime, the October Revolution of 1917 firmly established the Soviet Union. Constructivists of Moscow and Leningrad connected their art with sociopolitical aims of the Bolshevik vision.

Revolution is the necessary step towards a renewal of a society. 

'We praise war, the only hygiene in the world' Futurists published this quote on the front page of the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro in 1909.

Avant-Garde Graphics: 1918 - 1934 Constructivists of USSR 
Lutz Becker & Richard Hollis 

ARTISTS

EL LISSITZKY 

El Lissitzky was a Russian artist, architect, typographer and designer who did a lot of propaganda for the Soviet Union in the early twentieth century, his work for the Soviet Union propaganda included books, posters, buildings and exhibitions. He influenced the Bauhaus and Contructivist art movements and his development of styles and techniques from the 1920s and 30s are still influential today in graphic design. 

El Lissitzky, Give us more tanks!

El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge

GUSTAV KLUTSIS 

Gustav Klutsis was a major member of the Constructivist Avant-garde in the early twentieth century during the Russian revolution. He defended the Bolsheviks and in the October revolution of 1917. 

Gustav Klutsis, Untitled, 1922

Gustav Klutsis, Maquette for Radio-Announcer

ALEKSANDR RODCHENKO  

Aleksandr Rodchenko, Dobrolet

Aleksandr Rodchenko is a Russian painter, sculptor and designer, he was a central exponent of Russian Constructivism and was also closely involved in cultural debates and experiments following the 1917 revolution. His work had a systematic characterization in which from 1916 he wanted to reject the conventional roles of self-expression, personal handling of the medium and tasteful or aesthetic predilections, this makes it difficult to actually name him as an artist because of his condemnation of the concept of art.

Aleksandr Rodchenko, Untitled 

Aleksandr Rodchenko, A Yankee in Petrograd