Art p. 94-101

1. Art p. 94-101 LissetteCollazo

2. El Lissitzky • Lazar MarkovichLissitzky, known as El Lissitzky, was an important Russian Jewish artist • His contemporary is Marc Chagall • Like Chagall he initially studied art in Vitebsk under Yehuda Pen. • He found it necessary to travel abroad to continue his studies so in 1909 he moved to Germany and studied architectural engineering. • In Germany, he developed an interest in design, specifically in Jewish art and writing. • He illustrated Hebrew books for children. • Lissitzky, invited by Marc Chagall, joined the faculty of a new art school formed by Chagall in 1919.. • Lissitzky became very interested in the Malevich movement Suprematism and rejected figurative and narrative content in his art

3. El Lissitzky cont. • Suprematismand Constructivism had overlapping goals of creating new art for a new, modern society, but THEY WERE SEPARATE MOVEMENTS • Lissitzky developed a series of abstract paintings focused on geometric forms called Proun • Proun is an acronym for “project for the affirmation for the new” • Proun reflects his belief that abstract art should hold meaning in society • This belief was received enthusiastically AFTER the revolution • Prounen, the names of the works inProun, combined the abstractions of Suprematism with Lissitzky’s interest in architecture

4. Even More El Lissitzky… • In Hanover in 1922, he has a solo exhibition of his work at a gallery. • He later married Sophie Kuppers, whom he met at his solo exhibition. • After an illness that forced him to move to Switzerland, Lissitzky returned to Moscow in 1925 where he taught and further developed his interest in architecture. • During the late 1920s and 1930s, he produced imagery that were used as propaganda for the government. • He designed the official Soviet pavilions for international exhibitions • He also served as a designer for the monumental All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow in the late 1930s. • He died in 1941 in Moscow from tuberculosis contracted as a child

5. Visual Analysis ofProun(p.16) • Dates from 1924 to 1925 • Part of a large group of images that were developed over many years • It is an abstract work, which means that it has no subject matter in a traditional sense. • Has the illusion of a landscape painting because of the use of three dimension • Collage made of various papers colored with gouache, graphite, and varnish, along with ink and watercolor on cream-colored cardboard. • Prounen all had the same title. Because of this the viewer is supposed to truly find meaning in the work without a textual reference.

6. Proun cont. • This work has a group of geometric shapes which are all quadrilaterals mounted on a black background • Shapes all made of straight lines and they consist of long rectangles, spuares, and rhomboids. • Contrast between the black background and the red, yellow, cream, and grey. • Sense of depth by overlapping forms. • Color also used to create a sense of depth. • The yellow appears to pop out while the grey appears to recede in space. • Lissitzky was specifically inspired by Malevich’s Suprematist movement, with its focus on geometric forms and its goal of creating the ideal using abstraction.

7. Contextual Analysis • The movement toward abstraction in the 20th century was politically meaningful. • The content of abstract art derived from the rejection of all beliefs and ideals that had come before it. • Breaking from all artistic conventions was an important way of expressing a radical shift away from the values of the past. • Lissitzky intended for his Prounen to speak to the possibility of a new order in society even though they were purposefully emptied of narrative content.

8. IrakliToidze • While Lissitzky used abstraction and metaphor to reference a new society, The Motherland Calls, a propaganda poster, relied on familiar visual language to convey a very clear political message. • This work was one of the most iconic posters created in the Soviet union during WWII, and it was used as a call to action during a time of national crisis. • IrakliToidze, born in 1902, was already a successful artist when he produced The Motherland Calls in 1941. • He studied at the Georgian Academy of fine Arts, where he graduated in 1930. • In the 1930s, Toidze designed posters depicting Lenin that circulated in large numbers.

9. IrakliToidze cont. • Later, he created iconic portraits of Stalin that became popular posters. • His posters were important to the cult of the heroic leader that the state promoted. • He lived and worked in Moscow. • He earned titles such as honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation and awards such as the USSR State Prize. • He probably wasn’t seeking personal fame, rather, he most likely considered himself to be fulfilling an important role in society.

10. Visual Analysis of The Motherland Calls (p.17) • This poster relies on a strong central image and the contrast of black, white, and red to create an impact. • A mature woman is shown in the center. Clothed in red, with a cloak, she looks right at the viewer. • In her right hand she holdsa text for the viewer to read. • With her left hand she gestures upward and behind her, where our eyes are drawn to a seemingly endless line of bayonets. • The implication is that the woman stands between the viewer and the armed soldiers. • She serves as a rally for the soldiers as she at the same time engages with the viewer directly, asking for sacrifice in a time of war. • The allegorical “mother” of the poster seems mature even though she doesn’t look physically old. • Her expression is serious and intense

11. The Motherland Calls cont. • The text that she holds is an oath of loyalty for the soldiers. • Toidze placed a lot of emphasis on the text by placing it in the forefront and allowing it to fill a large portion of the poster. • The title is in bold red letters at the top. • The woman appears to be gesturing to the title. • The word “motherland” was used to refer to the home nation, even though Russia was traditionally a patriarchal society. • The text here makes a double reference to the mother of the motherland. • The implication is that the obligation to respond is both a matter of duty to the country and family. • The “mother” represents a protecting, life-giving force that needs to be protected by her sons. • The woman is said to be modeled after Toidze’s wife Tamara.

12. Contextual Analysis • This work was intended to gain support during a time of military crisis, as Nazi Germany had just invaded the Soviet Union in an operation codenamed “Barbarossa”. • The poster successfully conveyed the dire situation faced by the soldiers and ordinary people alike who faced the threat of invasion. • This became an iconic call to action during a time of national crisis, much like the famous recruitment posters featuring Uncle Sam.

13. The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building • Designed by two architects: Dmitry Chechylin and Andrei Rostovsky. • Chechylin was more well known and little information is available about Rostovsky today. • Chechylin was a prominent Soviet architect of Moscow from 1945 until 1949. • He studied at Vkhutemas, a state-sponsored art and technical school in Moscow. • Graduated in 1929 and took on important projects in Moscow in the 1930s • In 1939 he designed the Moscow Pavilion for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (remember that El Lissitzky was involved in the later project) • Chechylin also created plans for the Zaryadye skyscraper, an eighth building of Stalin’s Palaze of the Soviets plan that was never completed. • Other later projects: Moskva Pool built in 1958 and the Rossiya Hotel built in 1967

14. Visual Analysis (p. 18) • The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment is in an area located along the northern bank of the Moskva River in Moscow. • It includes a main tower, thirty-tow stories high, which was designed in 1947 and completed in 1952. • There is also a lower, nine-story apartment block facing the river. • One section of this lower apartment block predates the war: designed in 1938 and completed in 1940. • The main tower is in the shape of a hexagon with three wings, which stand eighteen stories high. • Overall design identified as Soviet Classicism, which incorporates both gothic and classical elements, as well as art deco details. • The visual ascent from the side wings up to the thin spire that crowns the tower creates a strong sense of verticality. • The lower parts of the block are blocky, but the massive walls are opened up with many windows. • Rounded archways recall classical architecture, while the series of pinnacles on top of the lower and higher towers lends a gothic feel.

15. Contextual Analysis • Stalin was aware of the power of architecture to convey a message about the strength of the government so he initiated many architectural projects. • His main vision was the Palace of the Soviets which was to include eight buildings. • Even though it was never completed, it was imagined as a centerpiece for a series o skyscrapers. • Seven of these skyscrapers, often referred to as the Seven Sisters, were built between 1947 and 1952. • When seen together, a characteristic style of Stalinistic architecture, clearly inspired by Gothic examples, takes shape. • The seven buildings include the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Apartments, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Hotel Ukraina, the Hotel Leningradskaya, the main building of Moscow State university, the Red Gates Administrative Building, and the Ministry of foreign Affairs. • These buildings established a modern image for the city and represented a new social order under Stalin’s rule.

16. Function • The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building was designed as a residential structure. • This embankment was a state-funded undertaking, and the government determined who could live there. • It was one of the more prestigious buildings designed in the height of Stalinist architecture. • Its apartments were at times reserved for famous residents, including the ballet dancer Galina Ulanova.

17. Blind Man’s Buff Artists • Komar and Melamid are an artistic team who created collaborative works, working first in Moscow in the late 1960s through the early 1970s. • The two artists are VitalyKomar and Alexander Melamid who were both born in Moscow. • Both artists attended the Moscow Art School from 1958 to 1960. they continued their educations at the Stroganov Institute of Art and Design from 1962 to 1967. • They began collaborating in 1965 and had their first joint exhibition in 1967. • The political content of their work questioned the authoritarian rule and it was made and object of government censorship in 1969.

18. Komar and Melamid cont. • In 1972 Komar and Melamid launched a new movement they called Sots Art. • Drawing on ideas from Pop Art in the US, the Sots Art movement included the visual language of Social Realism and put it to new use through ironic visual twists. • Although they were trained painters, they also used photography, text, and performance. • During the early 1970s they made portraits of their family members in the style of iconic pictures of Stalin and Lenin which were seen to be threats to the authoritarian rule. • They continued to have their work censored and were arrested in 1974 for creating art that did not conform to the government’s ideals.

19. They really like to talk about Komar and Melamid… • Also in 1974 they participated in an outside exhibit that was known as the Bulldozer Show because the government didn’t agree with the art practices so much that they just decided to demolish the exhibit using bulldozers. • The artists then began to have some of their pieces smuggled out of the Soviet union. • The Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York hosted Komar and Melamid’s first international exhibit in 1976. • The two artists were denied permission to leave the country by the government. In response, they created their own country, “Trans-State”, designing currency, passports, and a declaration of independence. • Both artists were permitted to leave the Soviet Union in 1977.

20. Are We Done Yet?..... Almost  • First the artists settled in Israel and eventually the US. • In the early 1980s, they produced the “Nostalgic Socialist Realism” series, a group of works that appropriated the styleand imagery of official, government-approved art. • It was used to raise questions about totalitarianism. • Other well known series: “People’s Choice” (1994-97) and “The Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project” (1995-2000) • Their last major project together was “Symbols of the Big Bang”, a group of works that explored spirituality and science through ancient and invented symbols. • They had some of these pieced produced in stain glass and put on exhibit at a show called “Berlin-Moscow/Moscow-Berlin”. • Government authorities didn’t allow the work to be included in an exhibit in Moscow in 2004.

21. Visual Analysis (p.19) • Sometimes called Blindman’s Bluff-a popular children’s game that has roots in Asia and Europe. • Variation of the game tag. • Komar and Melamid’s painting depicts this game played indoors. • A young girl, who is blindfolded, walks across the floor with her arms outstretched. • A man in a soldier’s uniform crouches on the floor. • He turns his head to watch the girl. • There is a table with still-life objects, the soldier’s hat and a small pot. • The table is covered in a red cloth, and red is a color symbolic of the Communist Party. This red dominates the scene and is also used for the walls and curtain. • The room is undecorated except for the picture of Stalin by the girl’s head.

22. Artistic Influences • Blindman’s Buff is reminiscent of European Baroque art. • Particularly like the works of Jan Vermeer. • Vermeer’s works focus on the relationship between a young woman and a young man. They also focus on a moment that implies that there is an untold story. • The focus on the details in this piece, such as the textures of the floor, curtain, and clothing, is reminiscent of Vermeer’s paintings.

23. Contextual Analysis • Komar and Melamid made very intentional decisions in their pieces to convey a certain meaning. • While Lissitzky moved away from a narrative in his abstract works, Komar and Melamid relied on narrative to make a statement. • They appropriated the art style that they wanted to critique. • The relationship between the soldier and the woman is unclear. The narrative, and the relationship, is left up to interpretation. • The picture of Stalin appears in several of the images in this series, referencing his omnipresence, even in the decades following his death.