Russian avant-garde
Encyclopedia
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
that flourished in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(or more accurately, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union) approximately 1890 to 1930 - although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960. The term covers many separate, but inextricably related, art movement
Art movement
An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time, or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined within a number of years...
s that occurred at the time; namely Neo-primitivism
Neo-primitivism
Neo-primitivism was a Russian art movement which took its name from the book Neo-primitivizm , by Aleksandr Shevchenko. In the book Shevchenko proposes a new style of modern painting which fuses elements of Cézanne, Cubism and Futurism with traditional Russian 'folk art' conventions and motifs,...
, suprematism
Suprematism
Suprematism was an art movement focused on fundamental geometric forms which formed in Russia in 1915-1916. It was not until later that suprematism received conventional museum preparations...
, constructivism
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
, and futurism
Futurism (art)
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
. Given that many of these avant-garde artists were born or grew up in what is present day Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(including Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was a Russian painter and art theoretician, born of ethnic Polish parents. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement.-Early life:...
, Aleksandra Ekster
Aleksandra Ekster
Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster was a Russian-French painter and designer.-Biography:-Childhood:...
, Vladimir Tatlin
Vladimir Tatlin
Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin was a Russian and Soviet painter and architect. With Kazimir Malevich he was one of the two most important figures in the Russian avant-garde art movement of the 1920s, and he later became the most important artist in the Constructivist movement...
, Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
, David Burliuk
David Burliuk
David Davidovich Burliuk was a Russian avant-garde artist of Ukrainian origin , book illustrator, publicist, and author associated with Russian Futurism...
, Alexander Archipenko
Alexander Archipenko
Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko was a Ukrainian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist.-Biography:...
), some sources also talk about Ukrainian avant-garde
Ukrainian avant-garde
The term "Ukrainian Avant-Garde" was first introduced by Parisian art historian Andréi Nakov for the exhibition Tatlin's dream, arranged in London, 1973, where works of international standard by avant-garde Ukrainian artists Vasyl Yermylov and Alexander Bogomazov were presented to the Western...
.
The Russian avant-garde reached its creative and popular height in the period between the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
and 1932, at which point the ideas of the avant-garde clashed with the newly emerged state-sponsored direction of Socialist Realism
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
. Notable figures from this era include:
Artists and Designers
- Nathan AltmanNathan AltmanNathan Isaevich Altman was a Jewish, Russian and Soviet avant-garde artist, Cubist painter, stage designer and book illustrator who was born, grew up and began his art studies in Ukraine, Russian Empire.-Early life:He was born in Vinnytsia, Russian Empire to a family of Russian...
- Alexander ArchipenkoAlexander ArchipenkoAlexander Porfyrovych Archipenko was a Ukrainian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist.-Biography:...
- Vladimir Baranoff-Rossine
- Alexander BogomazovAlexander BogomazovAlexander or Oleksandr Bogomazov was Ukrainian painter, known artist and modern art theoretician of Russian Avant-garde . In 1914 Alexander wrote his treatise The Art of Painting and the Elements...
- David BurliukDavid BurliukDavid Davidovich Burliuk was a Russian avant-garde artist of Ukrainian origin , book illustrator, publicist, and author associated with Russian Futurism...
- Vladimir Burliuk
- Marc ChagallMarc ChagallMarc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
- Ilya ChashnikIlya ChashnikIlya Grigorevich Chashnik was a suprematist artist, a pupil of Kazimir Malevich and a founding member of the UNOVIS school.Chashnik was notably able in a variety of media...
- Aleksandra EksterAleksandra EksterAleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster was a Russian-French painter and designer.-Biography:-Childhood:...
- Robert FalkRobert FalkRobert Rafailovich Falk was a Russian painter.-Biography:Falk was born in Moscow in 1886. In 1903 to 1904 he studied art in the studios of Konstantin Yuon and Ilya Mashkov, in 1905 to 1909 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture with Konstantin Korovin and Valentin...
- Pavel FilonovPavel FilonovPavel Nikolayevich Filonov was a Russian avant-garde painter, art theorist, and poet.-Biography:Filonov was born in Moscow on January 8, 1883 or December 27, 1882 . In 1897, he moved to St. Petersburg where he took art lessons...
- Naum GaboNaum GaboNaum Gabo KBE, born Naum Neemia Pevsner was a prominent Russian sculptor in the Constructivism movement and a pioneer of Kinetic Art.-Early life:...
- Nina Genke-MellerNina Genke-MellerNina Genke or Nina Genke-Meller, or Nina Henke-Meller, was a Ukrainian-Russian avant-garde artist, , designer, graphic artist and scenographer. -Biography:...
- Natalia GoncharovaNatalia GoncharovaNatalia Sergeevna Goncharova was a Russian avant-garde artist , painter, costume designer, writer, illustrator, and set designer. Her great-aunt was Natalia Pushkina, wife of the poet Alexander Pushkin.-Life and work:...
- Michail GrobmanMichail GrobmanMichail Grobman is a painter and a poet working in Israel and Russia. He is father to Hollywood producer Lati Grobman and Israeli Architect Yasha Jacob Grobman.-Notable Footnotes:* 1939 - Born in Moscow....
- Francisco Infante-AranaFrancisco Infante-AranaFrancisco Infante-Arana is a Russian painter.-Background:...
- Wassily KandinskyWassily KandinskyWassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
- Ivan KliunIvan KliunIvan Kliun was a Russian painter, Avant-garde artist , graphic artist and sculptor.-Biography:Ivan Vasilyevich Kliun was born in 1873 in Bolshie Gorki village ....
- Gustav KlutsisGustav KlutsisGustav Klutsis was a pioneering photographer and major member of the Constructivist avant-garde in the early 20th century...
- Aristarkh LentulovAristarkh LentulovAristarkh Lentulov was a major Russian avant-garde artist of Cubist orientation who also worked on set designs for the theatre.- Biography :...
- El LissitzkyEl Lissitzky, better known as El Lissitzky , was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer, polemicist and architect. He was an important figure of the Russian avant garde, helping develop suprematism with his mentor, Kazimir Malevich, and designing numerous exhibition displays and propaganda works...
- Kazimir MalevichKazimir MalevichKazimir Severinovich Malevich was a Russian painter and art theoretician, born of ethnic Polish parents. He was a pioneer of geometric abstract art and the originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement.-Early life:...
- Paul MansouroffPaul MansouroffPaul Andréevitch Mansouroff was an understated painter of the Russian avant-garde movement of the 1920s...
- Mikhail MatyushinMikhail MatyushinMichael Vasilyevich Matyuschin was a Russian painter and composer, leading member of the Russian avant-garde. In 1910–1913 Matyushin and his wife Elena Guro were key members of the Union of the Youth, an association of Russian Futurists...
- Vadim Meller
- Solomon NikritinSolomon NikritinSolomon Nikritin was a Ukrainian painter, avant-garde artist , graphic artist, designer, and author.- Biography :Solomon Nikritin was born in Chernihiv, Ukraine.In 1909–1914 he attended Kiev Art School ....
- Liubov Popova
- Ivan PuniIvan PuniIvan Puni or Puny was a Russian avant-garde artist .-Biography:Ivan Puni was born in Kuokkala to a family of Italian origins...
- Kliment Red'koKliment Red'koKliment Red'ko or Redko , 15 October 1897 - 18 February 1956) was a Ukrainian-Russian painter-scientist, avant-garde artist , graphic artist.-Biography:Kliment Red'ko was born in Cholm, Russian Empire....
- Alexei Remizov
- Alexander RodchenkoAlexander RodchenkoAleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko was a Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer. He was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design; he was married to the artist Varvara Stepanova....
- Olga RozanovaOlga RozanovaOlga Vladimirovna Rozanova Olga Vladimirovna Rozanova Olga Vladimirovna Rozanova (also spelled Rosanova, Russian: (Ольга Владимировна Розанова) (1886-7 November 1918, Moscow) was a Russian avant-garde artist in the styles of Suprematist, Neo-Primitivist, and Cubo-Futurist.-Biography:...
- Léopold SurvageLéopold SurvageLéopold Survage was an important French painter of Russian-Danish-Finnish descent born in Vilmanstrand, Finland .-Biography:At a young age, Survage was...
- Varvara StepanovaVarvara StepanovaVarvara Fyodorovna Stepanova , was a Russian artist associated with the 'Constructivist' movement.She came from peasant origins but was fortunate enough to get an education at Kazan School of Art, Odessa. There she met her lifelong friend and collaborator Alexander Rodchenko...
- Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg
- Vladimir TatlinVladimir TatlinVladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin was a Russian and Soviet painter and architect. With Kazimir Malevich he was one of the two most important figures in the Russian avant-garde art movement of the 1920s, and he later became the most important artist in the Constructivist movement...
- Vasiliy YermilovVasiliy YermilovVasyl Yermylov was a Ukrainian painter, avant-garde artist and designer. His genres included cubism, constructivism, and neo-primitivism.-Biography:* Vasyl Yermylov was born 22 March 1894 in the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine....
- Nadezhda UdaltsovaNadezhda UdaltsovaNadezhda Andreeva Udaltsova was a Russian avant-garde artist and painter.-Biography:Nadezhda Udaltsova was born in town Orel in Russia. Udaltsova studied at private art studios in Moscow, then in Paris under André Segonzac....
- Alexandr ZhdanovAlexandr ZhdanovAlexandr Pavlovich Zhdanov was a Russian avant-garde painter.He was born in Vyoshenskaya, Soviet Union. Zhdanov was expelled four times from the Grekov Art School in Rostov-on-the-Don but managed to graduate after six years....
Filmmakers
- Alexander DovzhenkoAlexander DovzhenkoAleksandr Petrovich Dovzhenko , was a Soviet screenwriter, film producer and director of Ukrainian descent. He is often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin.- Biography :...
- Dziga VertovDziga VertovDavid Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
- Grigori AleksandrovGrigori AleksandrovGrigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov or Alexandrov was a prominent Soviet film director who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1947 and a Hero of Socialist Labor in 1973...
- Lev KuleshovLev KuleshovLev Vladimirovich Kuleshov was a Soviet filmmaker and film theorist who taught at and helped establish the world's first film school .-Career:...
- Sergei EisensteinSergei EisensteinSergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
- Vsevolod PudovkinVsevolod PudovkinVsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter and actor who developed influential theories of montage...
Writers
- Velimir KhlebnikovVelimir KhlebnikovVelimir Khlebnikov , pseudonym of Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov , was a central part of the Russian Futurist movement, but his work and influence stretch far beyond it.Khlebnikov belonged to Hylaea,...
- Vladimir MayakovskyVladimir MayakovskyVladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
- Sergei Tretyakov
- Alexei Remizov
Theatre Directors
- Vsevolod MeyerholdVsevolod MeyerholdVsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre.-Early...
- Nikolai EvreinovNikolai EvreinovNikolai Nikolayevich Evreinov was a Russian director, dramatist and theatre practitioner associated with Russian Symbolism.- Life :The son of a French woman and a Russian engineer, Evreinov developed a keen interest in theatre from an early age, penning his first play at the age of 7. Six years...
- Yevgeny VakhtangovYevgeny VakhtangovYevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov was a Russian actor and theatre director who founded the Vakhtangov Theatre. He was a friend and mentor of Michael Chekhov.Vakhtangov was born to Armenian-Russian parents from Ossetia in Vladikavkaz...
- Sergei EisensteinSergei EisensteinSergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
Architects
- Yakov ChernikhovYakov ChernikhovYakov Georgievich Chernikhov was a constructivist architect and graphic designer. His books on architectural design published in Leningrad between 1927 and 1933 are amongst the most innovatory texts of their time.Chernikov was born to a poor family, one of 11 children...
- Moisei GinzburgMoisei GinzburgMoisei Yakovlevich Ginzburg was a Soviet constructivist architect, best known for his 1929 Narkomfin Building in Moscow.-Education:Ginzburg was born in Minsk in a Jewish real estate developer's family. He graduated from Milano Academy and Riga polytechnic institute . During Russian Civil War he...
- Ilya GolosovIlya GolosovIlya Alexandrovich Golosov was a Russian Soviet architect. A leader of Constructivism in 1925-1931, Ilya Golosov later developed his own style of early stalinist architecture known as postconstructivism...
- Ivan LeonidovIvan LeonidovIvan Ilich Léonidov was a Russian constructivist architect, urban planner, painter and teacher.-Early life:...
- Konstantin MelnikovKonstantin MelnikovKonstantin Stepanovich Melnikov was a Russian architect and painter. His architectural work, compressed into a single decade , placed Melnikov on the front end of 1920s avant-garde architecture...
- Vladimir ShukhovVladimir ShukhovVladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov , was a Russian engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for structural engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of world's first hyperboloid structures, lattice shell structures, tensile...
- Alexander VesninAlexander VesninAlexander Aleksandrovic Vesnin , together with his brothers Leonid Aleksandrovic Vesnin and Viktor Aleksandrovic Vesnin he was a leading light of Constructivist architecture...
Preserving Russian avant-garde architecture has become a real concern for historians, politicians and architects. In 2007, the Modern Museum of Art MoMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
in New York, devoted an exhibition entirely to the *Lost Vanguard: Soviet Architecture, featuring the work of American Photographer Richard Pare.
Composers
- Samuil FeinbergSamuil FeinbergSamuil Yevgenyevich Feinberg was a Russian and Soviet composer and pianist. Raised in Moscow, he entered the Moscow Conservatory and studied under Alexander Goldenweiser. He is most remembered today for his complete recording of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and many transcriptions. Feinberg...
- Arthur LouriéArthur LouriéArthur-Vincent Lourié, born Naum Izrailevich Luria , later changed his name to Artur Sergeyevich Luriye was a significant Russian composer. Lourié played an important role in the earliest stages of the organization of Soviet music after the 1917 Revolution but later went into exile...
- Nikolai MedtnerNikolai MedtnerNikolai Karlovich Medtner was a Russian composer and pianist.A younger contemporary of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, he wrote a substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano...
- Alexander Mossolov
- Nikolai Borissovitch Obuchov
- Nikolai RoslavetsNikolai RoslavetsNikolai Andreevich Roslavets was a significant Soviet modernist composer. Roslavets was a convinced modernist and cosmopolitan thinker; his music was officially suppressed from 1930 onwards....
- Leonid SabaneyevLeonid SabaneyevLeonid Leonidovich Sabaneyev or Sabaneyeff or Sabaneev was a Russian musicologist, music critic, composer and scientist.-Biography:...
- Alexander ScriabinAlexander ScriabinAlexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
Many Russian composers that were interested in avant-garde music became members of the Association for Contemporary Music which was headed by Roslavets.
Main Articles
- ConstructivismConstructivism (art)Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
- VKhUTEMASVKhUTEMASVkhutemas ) was the Russian state art and technical school founded in 1920 in Moscow, replacing the Moscow Svomas. The workshops were established by a decree from Vladimir Lenin with the intentions, in the words of the Soviet government, "to prepare master artists of the highest qualifications for...
- Russian FuturismRussian FuturismRussian Futurism is the term used to denote a group of Russian poets and artists who adopted the principles of Filippo Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism"...
- Cubo-FuturismCubo-FuturismCubo-Futurism was the main school of painting and sculpture practiced by the Russian Futurists.When Aristarkh Lentulov returned from Paris in 1913 and exhibited his works in Moscow, the Russian Futurist painters adopted the forms of Cubism and combined them with the Italian Futurists'...
- SuprematismSuprematismSuprematism was an art movement focused on fundamental geometric forms which formed in Russia in 1915-1916. It was not until later that suprematism received conventional museum preparations...
- Constructivist architectureConstructivist architectureConstructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the movement produced...
- Soviet artSoviet artSoviet art was the visual art produced in the Soviet Union.-Early years:During the Russian Revolution a movement was initiated to put all arts to service of the dictatorship of the proletariat...
- Avant-gardeAvant-gardeAvant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
- Russian SymbolismRussian SymbolismRussian symbolism was an intellectual and artistic movement predominant at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. It represented the Russian branch of the symbolist movement in European art, and was mostly known for its contributions to Russian poetry.-Russian symbolism in...
External links
- Why did Soviet Photographic Avant-garde decline?
- The Russian Avant-garde Foundation
- Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art - Costakis Collection
- Yiddish Book Collection of the Russian Avant-Garde at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
- International campaign to save the Shukhov Tower in Moscow
- Masters of Russian Avant-garde