Born 1891, St.Petersburg - Died 1956, Moscow
Painter, graphic artist, photographer and designer
Paintings and Graphic Work Spacial Compositions Design
Photography Biography 
You may see additional work by this artist in the Mass and Agit Art category.
Viewed Most Often
Portrait of Photographer
Georghy Petrusov. 1929.
Non-objective Construction of
Projected and Painted Planes in a
Complex Colours Composition. 1917.
Design of Lamp for the
Café Pittoresque. 1917.
Composition. 1917.
Portrait of the Artist's
Mother. 1924.
Current Panel: Total Panels:
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In the Restaurant. 1910.
Pencil on paper, 16.5x11 cm.
Portrait of the Artist N.Rusakov. 1912.
Oil on wood, 34.5x26 cm.
Chelyabinsk Regional Picture Gallery.
Woman in a Kimono. 1913.
Indian ink on paper, 19.8x8.8 cm.
Two Figures. Study. 1915.
Pencil on paper, 25x20.5 cm.
Compass drawing. 1915.
Ink and pen on paper, 25.5x20.5 cm.
A.Rodchenko and V.Stepanova Archive, Moscow.
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Compass drawing. 1915.
Indian ink and pen on cardboard, 18x9.8 cm.
Private collection, Germany.
Compass and Ruler Drawing. 1915.
Ink, tempera and varnish on paper, 25x20.5 cm.
Compass and Ruler Drawing. 1915.
Ink, tempera, watercolor, bronze, silver and varnish on paper, 27.3x20 cm.
Ruler Drawing. 1915.
Ink and pen on paper, 25x20 cm.
Composition. 1915.
Tempera and varnish on cardboard, 27x20 cm.
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Abstract Composition. 1915.
Gouache and watercolor on paper, 27x20 cm.
Portrait of N.A.R. (Nadezhda, The Artist's Sister-in-Law) With Her Son. 1915.
Oil on plywood, 61x51 cm.
Collection of the Artist's family.
Dance. Non-objective Composition. 1915.
Oil on canvas.
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.
Female Figure (Nude). 1915.
Oil on paper mounted on plywood, 35x22 cm.
Vasnetsov Regional Art Museum, Kirov.
Composition. 1916.
Watercolor and varnish on paper, 27x20 cm.
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Composition. 1916.
Tempera and varnish on paper, 30x19 cm.
Construction. 1916.
Gouache and watercolor on paper, 31x23 cm.
Construction #18. 1916.
Watercolor, gouache on paper, 32x27 cm.
Collection of Chudnovsky, St.Petersburg.
Composition. 1916.
Tempera and varnish on paper, 29.5x27.5 cm.
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Composition. 1917.
Tempera, watercolor and bronze on paper, 44x31 cm.
Construction. 1917.
Oil on wood, 73x32 cm.
The State Russian Museum, St.Petersburg.
Dancer. 1917.
Oil on wood, 44x31 cm.
Non-objective Construction of Projected and Painted Planes in a Complex Colours Composition. 1917.
Watercolor, gouache and ink on paper, 34.6x39.5 cm.
G.Costakis collection.
Composition. 1918.
Tempera on paper, 32x27.5 cm.
Ivanovo District Art Museum.
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Non-objective Composition. 1918.
Oil on wood, 53x21 cm.
The State Russian Museum, St.Petersburg.
Black on Black. 1918.
Oil on wood, 53x21 cm.
Museum of Art Culture, St.Petersburg.
Non-objective. 1918.
Oil on canvas, 71.5x52.8 cm.
Museum of Art Culture, St.Petersburg.
Non-objective Composition. 1918-1919.
Oil on canvas, 92.5x59 cm.
Rodchenko Estate, Moscow.
Black on Black. 1918.
Oil on wood.
Vasnetsov Regional Art Museum, Kirov.
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Wrestler. 1918.
Gouache and watercolor on paper, 38x23.5 cm.
White Circle. 1918.
Oil on canvas, 89.2x71.5 cm.
Museum of Art Culture, St.Petersburg.
Line Composition. 1918.
Pencil on tracing paper, 37x24 cm.
Construction. 1918.
Oil on canvas, 71x62.5 cm.
Dagestan Museum of the Arts, Makhachkala
Composition no.61 (from the series Concentration of Colour). 1918.
Oil on canvas, 42x36 cm.
Museum of Fine Arts, Tula.
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Construction. 1919.
Oil on wood, 84x65 cm..
Collection of the Artist's family.
Composition. 1919.
Gouache and watercolor on paper, 38x23.5 cm.
Two Figures. Robot. 1919.
Oil on veneer, 149.5x97 cm.
G.Costakis collection.
Cover for Album "Linocuts. Rodchenko", Including 12 More Prints. 1919.
Linocut prints on paper, 36.3x28 cm.
Museum of Art Culture, St.Petersburg.
Line Composition. 1919.
Pencil on paper, 17.3x11.7 cm.
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Line Composition. 1919.
Pencil on paper, 35x20 cm.
Composition. 1919.
Ink and pen on paper.
Composition #66/86. 1919.
Oil on canvas, 122.3x73 cm..
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Lines on Green Background. 1919.
Oil on canvas, 73x46 cm..
Vasnetsov Regional Art Museum, Kirov.
Composition. 1920.
Oil on wood, 71x37 cm.
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Composition. 1920.
Oil on wood, 71x37 cm.
Composition. 1920.
Oil on wood, 42x35 cm.
Composition. 1920.
Oil on wood, 42x25 cm.
Composition #99. 1920.
Oil on wood, 95x60.5 cm.
Abstract Drawing. 1921.
Pencil on paper, 18.3x14 cm.
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Circus Rider. 1935.
Oil on canvas, 59x79 cm..
Romance. 1935.
Oil on canvas, 90.5x69 cm.
Composition. 1940.
Gouache on paper, 29.5x26.5 cm.
Composition. 1944.
Gouache on paper, 26.8x22 cm.
Acrobat. 1948.
Oil on canvas, 85x57.5 cm.
Collection of the Artist's family.
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Spatial Construction #5. 1918.
Painted aluminum, 47.5x37.5x21 cm.
Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen.
Construction. 1918.
Spatial Construction. 1920.
Hanging Construction. 1920.
Hanging Construction. 1920.
Hanging Construction. 1920. Reconstruction 1982.
Aluminum, 59x58x59 cm.
Gmurzhinskaya Gallery, Koln.
Spatial Construction #12. 1920.
Plywood, open construction partially painted with aluminum paint, and wire, 61x83.7x47 cm.
Museum of Modern Arts, NY.
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Costume design for play "The Princess Padua". 1914.
Tempera and varnish on paper, 32x20 cm.
Costume design for play "The Princess Padua". 1914.
Tempera and varnish on paper, 32x20 cm.
Costume Design for a Clown, Pierrot. 1919.
Watercolor, gouache, ink, pencil and varnish on paper, 37.1x53.2 cm.
G.Costakis collection.
Merchant. Costume Design For Play "We" by A.Gan. 1920. Play was never produced.
Gouache, whitening, ink, pencil on paper, 53x36.5 cm.
Bakhrushin Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.
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Costume Design For Play "We" by A.Gan. 1920. Play was never produced.
Gouache on paper.
City Guard. Costume Design For Play "We" by A.Gan. 1920. Play was never produced.
Gouache, ink, pencil on paper, 52.9x36.6 cm.
Bakhrushin Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.
Obyvatel. Costume Design For Play "We" by A.Gan. 1920. Play was never produced.
Gouache, ink, pencil on paper, 53.3x36.7 cm.
Bakhrushin Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.
Chanconnette. Costume Design For Play "We" by A.Gan. 1920. Play was never produced.
Tempera, ink, pencil on paper, 53x36.7 cm.
Bakhrushin Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.
Architectural Fantasy. Cut (Section). 1920.
Color ink on paper, 26x21 cm.
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
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Teapot, Sugar Cellar, Platter Design. 1922.
Sugar Cellar: photograph, 14.8x20 cm.
Platter: ink and guache on paper, 58x45 cm.
Tea Cups, Platter, Teapot Design. 1922.
Cups and platter: ink and tempera on paper, 37.2x24 cm.
Teapot: gouache, ink on paper, 37x27 cm.
Collection of the Artist's family.
Cover (Back And Front) For "Mayakovsky Smiles, Mayakovsky Laughs, Mayakovsky Mocks" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. Krug, Moscow-Petersburg. 1923.
Letterpress, page: 17.4x12.4 cm.
Russian State Library, Moscow.
Cover For "About This" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1923. Book with nine letterpress photomontages. Tsinkografiia V.Ts.I.K. Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo (State Publishing House), Moscow.
Letterpress, page: 23x15.1 cm.
Russian State Library, Moscow.
Photomontage For "About This" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. "Monster of Jealousy". 1923. Tsinkografiia V.Ts.I.K. Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo (State Publishing House), Moscow.
Letterpress, page: 23.2x15.3 cm.
Jan Tschichold Collection.
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Photomontage For "About This" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1923. Tsinkografiia V.Ts.I.K. Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo (State Publishing House), Moscow.
Cut-and-pasted printed papers and gelatin-silver photographs and gouache on cardboard,
42.5x32.5 cm.
State Mayakovsky Museum, Moscow.
Photomontage For "About This" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1923. Tsinkografiia V.Ts.I.K. Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo (State Publishing House), Moscow.
Photomontage For "About This" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. "She is in bed, she is lying there...". 1923. Tsinkografiia V.Ts.I.K. Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo (State Publishing House), Moscow. 
Photomontage For "About This" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1923. Tsinkografiia V.Ts.I.K. Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo (State Publishing House), Moscow.
Photomontage For "About This" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. "I'm on the very top". 1923. Tsinkografiia V.Ts.I.K. Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo (State Publishing House), Moscow.
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Photomontage For "About This" by Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1923. Tsinkografiia V.Ts.I.K. Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo (State Publishing House), Moscow.
Cover for "A Yankee in Petrograd", Vol. 7: "Black Hand" by Jim Dollar (Marietta Saginyan). Total of 10 Volumes. 1924.
Print, 17.9x12.7 cm.
Kenneth Walker Fund.
Textile Design. 1924.
Ink on paper, 29.7x29 cm.
Textile Design. 1924.
Ink on paper, 30.5x13 cm.
Textile Design. 1924.
Ink on paper.
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Catalogue cover for "Art Deco" Paris Exhibition. 1925. Comité de la section de l'U.R.S.S. à l'exposition internationale, Moscow.
Lithograph, 26.8x19.7 cm.
Museum of Modern Art, NY.
Cover (front and back) for "To Sergey Yesenin" by Mayakovsky. 1926.
Cover with letterpress lettering and photomontage illustration, page: 17.3x13 cm.
Cover (front and back) for "Razgovor s Fininspectorom o Poesii" (Conversation with Finance Auditor About Poetry) by Mayakovsky. 1926. Zakkniga.
Lithograph 17.5x13 cm.
National Gallery of Australia.
Photographic Illustration for Sergei Tretyakov's unpublished Verses for Children. 1926.
Scene from the play "The Bed-Bug". 1929.
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Costume design for the play "The Bed-Bug". 1929.
Pencil on paper.
Costume design for the play "The Bed-Bug". 1929.
Pencil on paper.
Costume design for the play "The Bed-Bug". 1929.
Pencil on paper.
Set design for the play "The Pendulum". 1929.
Pencil on paper.
Costume design for the play "The Pendulum". 1929.
PictureDetails
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A Man Pulling Boards. 1920.
A Woman Talking on The Phone. 1923.
Gelatin-silver print, 39.5x29.2 cm.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mr. and Mrs. John Spencer Fund.
Portrait of Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1924.
Portrait of The Poet Nikolai Aseyev. 1927.
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Spruce Firs In Pushkino. 1927.
Cortyard in Mayasnytskaya Street. 1927.
Cortyard With Trees. 1927.
On the Fire-escape. 1927.
Gelatin silver print, 22.86x15.24 cm.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Glass and Light. 1928.
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Glass and Light. 1928.
Driver. 1929.
Portrait of Film Director Alexandr Dovzhenko. 1930.
Cog-wheels. 1930.
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On the Steps. 1930.
Pioneer Girl. 1930.
Gelatin-silver print, 49.6x37 cm.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Worm Collectors. 1933.
Girl With Leica. 1934.
Free-style Diver. 1936.
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Free-style Diver. 1936.
Gelatin-silver print, 30x24 cm.
Neue Galerie Gratz, Austria.
Wild Flowers (The Artist's Daughter). 1937.
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Biography:
The story of Alexandr Mikhailovich Rodchenko differs from most of his contemporary fellow artists of the Russian Avant-garde. His father was a landless peasant, free-born son of an ex-serf, who has taken on many kinds of jobs at one time or another. His mother came from an impoverished merchant class family of Old believers, and worked as a laundress. Alexandr Rodchenko was born in an upstairs apartment above the theatre in which his father was working at the time.
Rodchenko wearing clothes of his own design. 1923.
As a child he has spent lonely days in the apartment in an empty building, thinking that it's how everybody must have lived. Lacking company and other kinds os stimulation, Rodchenko drew from his own powers of imagination, creating his own fantasy world and populating it with the object around come alive.
Due to circumstances of his birth the young future artist's education was poor, and his right to secondary school education was in dispute. The elementary parochial school report from 1905 was all he had when in 1910 he wished to register at the School of Arts, Kazan. Not surprisingly, he was only allowed to participate as "guest student", and he attended the school in this status until 1914.
In 1908-1910 Rodchenko has worked in the technical dental laboratory of the the Kazan Dentistry School.
In contrast with most other Avant-garde artists of the time, Rodchenko had no cultural conditioning from his family; no funds for traveling in Russia and Europe; and no formal education. He was not immediately exposed to the artistic work of the time, both Russian and European, Kazan being a bit slow to reach. Considering this background, it is truly remarkable, that by 1916 Rodchenko has established himself among the Russian Avant-garde artists in Moscow.
By the end of 1914 the artist has firmly developed his interest in the non-objective, and wanted to coninue his studies. However, as his education was informal, and he had no recognitions as a graduate, this was not easy, and he enrolled into the Stroganov Art Industrial Institute, Moscow to study graphic art.
He soon discovered, that here he would not continue with his way, and decided to openly join the "Left" movement and paint in their midst. As these artists were unrecognised, Rodchenko had a hard, hungry time, spending all his money on materials and working furiously. He admired the anappreciated artists and poets, such as Tatlin, Malevich, Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov and their path of revolt agaist accepted aestetic perceptions.
In 1916 he met Tatlin, who opened the path into the exhibition world for Rodchenko, recognising his obvious talent. Rodchenko participated in this exhibition with Tatlin, L. Popova, N.Udaltzova, A.Exter, I.Pestel, I.Kliun, L.Bruni, K.Malevich and a few others, working for his share as a ticket-seller, exhibiting 10 of his works, and drawing a considerable amount of attention and interest. Particularly interest was taken in his abstract compositions with compass and ruler, which took him beyond Cubo-Futurism.
The aesthetic effect of these compositions comes from Rodchenko's unerring intuitive feel of the line and form, which guides him to chose non-symmetrical, light and surprising arrangements of the circles and lines, seemingly random, and unorthodox in the choise of the mundane, totally unartistic, engineering tools. This feeling is further enhanced by the play of color and choice of spectrum, by the interaction of large and small pieces, most dramatically conveyed in the black-and-white compositions.
Together with Tatlin and Yakulov, Rodchenko decorated "Café Pittoresque" in 1917. he continued to participate in exhibitions including "The Store", OBMOKhU, "5x5=25".
The period of 1918-19, when Rodchenko created his series of linocuts, is often addressed as Linearism, and noted as the beginning of his Constructivism period. Not devoid of influence from Malevich's Suprematism, Rodchenko has passed this movement by and developed in his own unique direction in the abstract non-objective art.
In 1919-20 the artist creates his three-dimensional contructions, hanging and mobile constructions, very different from those made by Tatlin. Here his passage into Constructivism is clearly evident, inspired by the Linearism and brought into another dimension. Rodchenko is not so much a theoretician of art, he experiments, he is an intuitive hands-on artist, with an immense talent for analysis of the significance and direction of his own experiments.
He was a member of IZO Narkompros (Fine Arts Section of the People’s Commissariat for Education of the Russian Republic), OBMOKhU and INKhUK (Institute for Artistic Culture) in 1921.
In 1921 Rodchenko, along with other "Leftist" artists (his wife V.Stepanova, L.Popova, A.Vesnin, V.Tatlin) moved the focus of their attention from pure art to applied and industrial design. Post-Revolutionary period has filled him with the creative energy he wanted to introduce into everyday life. Like other Costructivism artists, Rodchenko wanted to bring artistic message down to the people, incorporate it into their very lives by various methods. Anouncing his departure from easel art Rodchenko exhibits 3 monochrome pictures called "Smooth color" at the 5x5=25 exhibition.
Rodchenko and his wife, the artist Varvara Stepanova. 1920.
The artist designed clothes and worker clubs; theatre costumes and decor; journal covers and illustration, creating a series of photomontages; agit posters and advertisments. In the latter creative process he joined up with the "Leftist" poet and artist Vladimir Mayakovsky, and together they created the most interesting and diverse advertisments and posters, proclaiming everything from shares to worker unions, using simple and memorable rhymed lines Mayakovsly wrote with Rodchenko's strong, colorful designs.
As part of their understanding, the artists wanted to bring the utalitarian object into the new Soviet reality and give it a meaning quite different from what they percieved as "burgois". Clean lines, simplicity replaced art deco and aesthetic value. The objects had a purpose of service, as opposed to "people's dependence on objects", as they saw the capitalistic, burgois enslavement to accepted beauty canons. In addition, the common cause of promoting all things home-made, all things Soviet also dictated the tone.
The artist has worked for journals LEF (Left Front of the Arts) in 1923-1925; and "SSSR na Stroyke" (USSR in Construction) in 1933-1941; as well as for film industry 1927-1930. He was acknowledged as Pioneer of Soviet design and awarded four silver medals at International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris (1925).
Rodchenko taught at VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN (Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops / Higher State Art Technical Institute) in 1920-1930.
In 1924 Rodchenko began his search in photography. In this area, too, he proved a pioneer. His approach was totally different and new, and he is considered rightly as the founder of modern Sovet photographic art.
As in all other creative ventures, Rodchenko experimented boldly and played extensively with new ideas. His photographs are instantly recognizable, celebrating youth, work, movement and the spirit of regular, every-day life. He introduced a new way of looking at perspective, wanted to show familiar things from unfamiliar and surprising angles. And most of all - differentiate ohotography from the old, tired way of posed, pre-arranged subject. Life was "happening" all around and Rodchenko's camera was there to capture it unprepared.
Rodchenko has resumed paintings in a more realistic manner in 1930s when he received very few official commissions, owing to discreditation of his creative ideas at the time. The forced "taming" of his talent has left a bitter impression on Rodchenko's later work.Only photography and book illustration was left open for him, and the artist suffered greatly the loss of his artistic freedom.
In 1951 Rodchenko was excluded from the Union of Artists, due to continuing objection to his artistic direction; then in 1954 he wasreinstated as a member of the Union.
This brilliant, many-faceted artist, who for many years created despite being unrecognized and unappreciated, died December 3rd, 1956 in Moscow from a stroke.