The changes taking place in Russia
The beginning of the XXth century has brought radical changes into the lives of the Russian people. Everything which was old and familiar, whether approved of or not, was disappearing and being replaced by something new and unfamiliar.
Varvara Stepanova. 1935.
Advertising poster
promoting literacy.
The long-standing monarchy was being replaced by the hopefully better, but still untried and thus unknown, government "of the people", and these people had hazy and contradictory notions about what that meant was expected of them. So while some feared the change, others welcomed it, according to these expectations and notions.
An aggressive anti-religion campaign was launched, painting religion as a symptom of backward ignorance, illiteracy and the general enemy of progress. Socialism and science, alternately or together, were proclaimed the "new religion". As all else, it was done by every possible means, from agit-posters, books, ROSTA windows, to beautifully made porcelain dishes.
Alexandra Schekatikhina-
Pototzkaya. 1923.
Modern Revolutionary
Thought is Socialism.
Oval platter.
Many artists were from families of faith, and expressed their view of it through their works. In time, about a decade and a half later, some of these artists were accused of "promoting religion" as a cause for their repression.
Social norms were overhauled. Literacy for all and equality for women were one goal actively advocated, and to achieve it the call and the benefits had to be brought home to the illiterate and the unequal. Publishing houses sprang up, requiring the illustrator to understand the new printing processes and exploring new possibilities.
Familiar social castes were abolished. No longer were the workers and farmers considered the lowest of the lowly - but found themselves suddenly the "proud owners" of this land, whatever that was supposed to mean. To bring to the people all the news and to connect them to the government, the artists were employed issuing dozens of journals, placards and advertisements.
Alexandr Rodchenko.
1930. Cog-Wheels.
Mechanization brought unseen before mass-production in all areas of life, rapid expansion of urban areas, changes in the rural parts and in the traditional roles and values. It also required development of the previously nonexistent design branch in the artistic professions, an evolution of "industrial art". Textile design, book illustration and printing, home and everyday-life implements, transportation, building and hence architecture - all required development of new approaches, the finding of solutions to new problems, and naturally offered new possibilities for expression to the artists. No other country has gone through such massive and fast technological leap as Russia did, which has been possible to achieve in those early years only due to the highest and purest of motivations in a common effort by so many people, while the benefits were still mostly imaginary and in the unclear but much-promising future.
Vladimir Tatlin. 1927.
Design for a Chair.
In the realm of art, too, all these changes happened so very quickly, that the path of the Russian artists through the artistic development in many directions, which would under other conditions take decades (as they did in other countries) was accomplished in a much much shorter time, some - making huge leaps in a single year. The achieved amount of innovation and the power of new development accomplished by 1930s is simply staggering. This must be understood: the accomplishment is not in the creation of a painting in a different, new style. It is in the whole and thoroughly based style itself, including theory, basis (some - including scientific basis), thesis, techniques, materials, a teaching school and methods - a whole professional and philosophical outlook resulting in the said style.
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