Russian Constructivism

1. Russian Constructivism A brief exploration of art in Soviet Russia in from 1910 to 1940

2. Russian constructivism was an artistic movement popularized in the 1920’s, based around geometric shapes and extreme angles, as well as large areas of one color or texture, such as a long, red shadow on a black and white wall, or a rainspout that has the highlights blown out. This style has greatly influenced many aesthetic styles today, such as industrial and steam-punk, which are very popular in Russia as well as the United States

3. . The messages in Russian constructivism were generally taken in the context of social change. People, architecture and machinery were common subjects in this style, and mass produced posters were a common medium. Part of the reason for this style becoming so successful is that it was more economical to print only a few areas of color when mass-producing prints. Color photography was still establishing itself, and so there was a lot of excitement for people exploring new uses for the medium.

4. This was one of the first times the world had seen mass media on this scale. Whole countries could relate to each other through the common messages they saw in shared media. Coming out of World War I, Russia was ready to rebuild a stronger, more united and more productive society, and the use of these advertisements and public service announcements were more prevalent then they had ever been before.

5. Famous artists of the Constructivist movement include Vladimir Tatlin, Kasimir Malevich, Alexandra Exter, Robert Adams, and El Lissitzky

6. Some of them were political protests, some of them were warnings and notifications, and some of them were just plain advertisements. While there was propaganda involved and most of the pictures were made with the goal of “the betterment of Russia” they have many links to the meme based mass culture we live in today.