It is time for art to merge with life in

an organized fashion [....]

Down with art as a bright patch on the
mediocre life of a propertied man [....]
Down with art as a means to escape
a life that isnt worth living.
Rodchenko
Construction is a Contemporary Worldview

Suprematism, Kazimir Malevich: The Black Square, 1913

Malevich freed art from

representation and utility

In 1921 25 artists called on the artist to

stop producing useless things ... for such
work now belongs to the duty of the artist as
a citizen of the community who is clearing
the field of the old rubbish in preparation for
the new life.

N e w A r t i st:
C o n str u c t o r

Fine Artist:
Ol d rubb ish
4

Instead of composition,
now construction

Alexander Rodchenko, portrait 1922

Objects produced should both facilitate

change in people, making them more ideally
Soviet, as well as represent Soviet ideals
through their materials and construction.
See discussion by Victor Margolin in
The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko,
Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946.
University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Qualities of these ideal Soviet citizens:

Discipline
Directness
Clarity
Order
the ability to interact creatively with
the things of the material world

For Rodchenko design was

not a matter of aesthetics.
It was a catalyst for
social change.

Rodchenkos Kiosk, 1923

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Examples of useful objects

(according to constructivists)

advertising posters
logotypes
book and magazine covers
film titles
furniture (multi-functional furniture: flexible
beds, chairs and storage cases.
workers club interiors
film and theater sets.
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Rodchenkos Armchair Bed, 1923

12

Rodchenkos Workers Club

13

Rodchenko influenced society most through

what we consider contemporary graphic design.
For example, book and magazine design,
advertising and set design. He reached large
audiences through these venues.

14

Constructivism, Rodchenko:dobrolet, 1923

15

Constructivism, Rodchenko: Book of All Fields of Knowledge, 1924

16

Constructivism, Rodchenko: Lef no. 1, 1924

17

Constructivism, Rodchenko: Mess Mend book cover, 1924

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Constructivism, Rodchenko: daesh no. 14, 1929

19

Art is about cultural change

not individual expression.

20

These artists were not trying to create a

revolutionary new kind of art, they were
trying to create art that would facilitate
a revolutionary new society.
See discussion by Victor Margolin in
The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko,
Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946.
University of Chicago Press, 1998.

21

Photography as
an engaged act.

22

Rodchenkos portrait of Mayakovsky

23

Apartment Building Shots, 1925

24

Apartment Building Shots

25

Rodchenko, workers demonstration, 1928

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Rodchenko, Red Army on Maneuvers, 1925

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Through his photography Rodchenko was trying

to transform the representation of social life.
As other viewers looked at his photography,
they too would be involved in this act of
transformation, thereby becoming more
ideal soviet citizens.

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