Lazar (El) Lissitzky - PowerPoint Presentation

Lazar (El) Lissitzky Architect, Painter, Photographer, typographer 1890-1941 Presentation made by: Emerald L. Rawls, Kacie Sandy, Casey Oberho, and Jimmy Sajbel

Artist Biography Major Dates Born 1890 Pochinok, Russia 1909 First exhibition in a St. Petersburg Artists Union 1914, forced to return to Russia because of world war I 1916-1919 Jewish Renaissance, became a professor of Graphic Arts and Architecture 1922~ Creation of thumb Index 1923, appointed member of Gutenberg society and start of new typography1926 starts creating exhibition spaces1928/30/31/34 appointed chief artist/architect by several sources1932 became permanent USSR im Bau1941 Died at Schodnia Russia "In the space allotted to me I have not conceived the four walls as retaining or protective walls, but as optic backcloths for the works of art. That is why I decided to dissolve the wall surfaces as such." - Lissitzky

Suprematism Created during World War I by Kazimir Malevich in Russia Based off of Cubism and Futurism as an abstract art form "Zero Degree"- the limit of a medium right before a piece is no longer considered art, considered the fundamentals of Suprematism Three levels of Suprematism: Black- "marked the beginnings of the movement, and the 'zero degree' of painting, as exemplified by  Black Square" Colored- "Sometimes referred to as Dynamic Suprematism, focused on the use of color and shape to create the sensation of movement in space (used by El Lissitzky leading to his own branch of Suprematism Proun) White- Considered by some as the ultimate form of Suprematism, dispensing with form entirely and focusing only on the "idea"Criticized for being so abstract that it was "Destructive and meaningless" (Nihilism)Helped shape Constructivism http://www.theartstory.org/movement-suprematism.htm

Suprematism  Continued Started by Kazmir MalevichRemoves the real world from the painting  Shows a link between words and signsIs a form of abstract artUses a simplified designColors and basic shapes show depth and representation

El  Lissitzky's Creative Process  Inspired by Kazmir Malevich and SuprematismFormed his own version of Suprematism called Proun in which spatial relationships are formed in his compositions Used primary colors like red and white (representing revolutionaries and conservatism) and basic shapes to tell stories and make political statements Shapes were made in a 3-D space that used various perspectives (a contrast to suprematism in which simplification and 2-D space was used)Led into Constructivism Period

Characteristics of Lissitzky's work Limited color palettes Tense diagonalsLayouts structured on a gridSans Serif Typography Repetition of pure geometric forms Experimented with photomontage (layering multiple images) Visual language with geometric shapes and color tell stories 

USSR, Russische Ausstellung (1929) Artwork description & Analysis: The poster you are viewing was created for a 1929 exhibition at the Kunstwerbemuseum in Zurich, Switzerland, also known as The Museum of Decorative Arts. His Constructivist art and his political beliefs had become basically interchangeable at this point in his career. In this piece you will see two colossal busts of a man and a woman standing over a horizontal structure. These two figures are fused to emphasize equality of the sexes in the Communist idiom, they are the essence of the State. Lissitzky had long envisioned his countrymen rising to new heights, both physically and spiritually. http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lissitzky-el-artworks.htm#pnt_2

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge  ("Клином красным бей белых!")  1919 In this piece at a glance, it may look like an arrangement of geometric shapes and a bright pop of color but there is a much deeper meaning behind it. It is a  Lithographic Soviet propaganda poster. In the poster, the intrusive red wedge symbolizes the Bolsheviks ( a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labor Party) Who are defeating their opponents The White movement(The Russians military arm). It is an example of Constructivism. http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lissitzky-el-artworks.htm#pnt_2

Sportsmen  ( Sportsmänner ) from Figurines: The Three-Dimensional Design of the Electro-Mechanical Show "Victory"over the Sun"  1920-21, published 1923   Victory Over the Sun  imagined a utopian, mechanized future exemplified by humanity's imprisonment of the sun and its replacement with a new, technological source of light and energy. Written in zaum, an experimental poetic language invented by Russian Futurists, meant to emphasize the inherent meaning of sounds, the opera has been called the first example of Futurist theater. In their reduced geometry, the original sets and costumes by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich heralded an abstraction that became known as Suprematism.""In 1920 Lissitsky executed his own designs for Victory Over the Sun, but they were never realized theatrically. In them he represents characters such as the Sportsmen and the Announcer as abstract, electromechanical dolls. Following the opera's own themes, Lissitsky imagined a new kind of theater performed by machines."https://www.moma.org/collection/works/88578 https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/art-turning-left-politics-and-process-at-tate-liverpool

About Two Squares 1922 "First published in 1922 in post-revolutionary Russia, a revolutionary children's book by Russian avant-garde artist El Lissitzky (1890–1941). This book created my El is  Imagination-stretching, radically simple, and yet beautifully sophisticated, About Two Squares tells the story of two squares that take on the mission of rebuilding the world. Inspired by Kazimir Malevich's suprematist vision of a non objective art, About Two Squares  stirred up the European art world with its publication in Theo van Doesburg's avant-garde art journal, De Stijl , and redefined what an illustrated book could be. Left wonderfully open-ended, the book's final words—“and then . . .”—encourage young readers to reinvent the world for themselves."http://www.citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/images/avantgarde/PRO07.jpghttps://books.google.com/books/about/About_Two_Squares.html?id=0yzIoAEACAAJ&hl=en

Proun 99 (1925) "Artwork description & Analysis: Lissitzky's  Prounen  or Proun work,  spanned a variety of media from painting and illustration to physical installation, was the artist's effort to create three-dimensional environments in which two-dimensional shapes could exist in direct contrast to the space they inhabited. The end result for Lissitzky was ideally to create an ongoing tension between open, negative, three-dimensional space and flat, purely abstract, geometric forms. Painting and drawing, which had formerly existed independently of the three-dimensional media of sculpture and architecture, could now be fused to them to create new, integrated forms - ideally, the futuristic, Suprematist-style buildings Lissitzky envisioned. Watercolor and metallic paint on wood" - Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lissitzky-el-artworks.htm#pnt_2

This is El Lissitzky’s last poster he created before his death in, calling for more “More tanks and planes!” this was made somewhere in the year 1941, this is a very constructivist print  compared to his earlier works. He died December of 1941.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/coilhouse/1530084065/

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lissitzky-el-artworks.htm#pnt_1 Had Gadya (1919) "Had Gadya" is a song that is sung by Jewish families on the first evening of Passover. It tells the tale of a billy goat (representing the Jewish people) who is attacked by a cat, which is in turn attacked by a dog. These animals represent the oppressors of Jews throughout history. Lissitzky originally created gouache paintings of the ten animals,  Had Gadya  is a painting in a fluid manner, reminiscent of the style of Marc Chagall. This 1919 version, created for a children's book, features quaint, naturalistic animals contained within curvilinear compartments that overlap. These geometric elements - harbingers in a sense - speak not to the overt simplicity of Lissitzky's later style, but they also create a sense of movement within the composition. Lithograph - Private collection

Veshch 1922 Veshch was a trilingual publication was a journal edited by El Lissitzky and Ilya Ehrenberg in Berlin as a way to renew cultural contact between Russia and the West. The journal's name comes from the Russian word Вещь meaning "thing" or "object." Lissitzky is quoted saying "for us, art is nothing other than the creation of new 'objects'" The journal championed many Constructivist and Suprematist works. http://www.csun.edu/~pjd77408/DrD/Art461/LecturesAll/Lectures/lecture07/ConAstructivism.html

In the Studio 1923 El Lissitzky's somersaulting multiple exposure of himself and several friends in his studio was made in 1923, probably when he was living in Hannover at the invitation of Kurt Schwitters. The fantastic intermingling of bodies suggests the free-spirited nature of the Russian artist's explorations and is a particularly apt expression of his vision of a "world floating in space." In accordance with Lissitzky's utopian belief that art would free the modern world from conventional tethers, the photograph can be read from any direction. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265589

Runner in the City 1926 In 1926 Lissitzky joined colleagues from the Association of New Architects (ASNOVA) in designing a new sports club, and he created this frenzied representation of an urban athlete as a model for a large frieze. He combined images of at least three separate elements-the runner, the track and hurdle, and a double exposure of Times Square-into a single print and then sliced that print into strips, creating an object that is both constructed and deconstructed. The visual result is a suspenseful moment-shattered, separated, and stretched-that weaves the mechanics of man into a dynamic tapestry of industrial optimism. The heroic pose of the runner, transposed to the center of New York City, becomes an emblem of triumphant human achievement: man and metal engage in an ambitious leap across several voids in the service of industrial progress. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265543

Self Portrait 1924 The essence of New Vision photography is pointedly expressed in this picture, commonly known as  The Constructor, which puts the act of seeing at center stage. Lissitzky's hand, holding a compass, is superimposed on a shot of his head that explicitly highlights his eye: insight, it expresses, is passed through the eye and transmitted to the hand, and through it to the tools of production. Devised from six different exposures, the picture merges Lissitzky's personae as photographer (eye) and constructor of images (hand) into a single likeness. Contesting the idea that straight photography provides a single, unmediated truth, Lissitzky held instead that montage, with its layering of one meaning over another, impels the viewer to reconsider the world. It thus marks a conceptual shift in the understanding of what a picture can be. Gallery label from  The Shaping of New Visions: Photography, Film, Photobook , April 16, 2012–April 29, 2013

10. New Man 1923  Inspired by  Kasimir Malevich's opera Victory Over the Sun Lissitzky recreate[d] figures of the opera’s main protagonists as suprematist automatons. A portfolio of ten large colour lithographs showing the main characters was published in Hanover in 1923. Lissitzky’s ultimate vision was to recast the opera as an electromechanical show with mechanical puppets.  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lissitzky-10-new-man-p07147

Sources Used "El Lissitzky Life-Letters-Texts" by Sophie Lissitzky-Kuppers and Herbert Read ISBN: 978-0500230909 "El Lissitzky architect painter photographer typographer" by Municipal Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven and the other authors ISBN: 90-70149-28-1 http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2140091 http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lissitzky-el.htm http://www.designishistory.com/1920/el-lissitzky/  http://www.designhistory.org/Avant_Garde_pages/Russia.htmlhttp://www.dailyartdaily.com/everything-you-must-know-about-suprematism/