Russian Avant-garde as a phenomenon
The Russian Avant-garde art is a collective term for the art made in Russia, and later the USSR, roughly in the first half of the XXth century, give or take a few years. It is a wide and unique phenomenon, far from homogeneous in nature, encompassing hundreds of artists, dozens of styles, groupings and movements and over 50 years of work.
So what makes it a single phenomenon? I would say, most probably, the all-powerful drive of these artists for a new, sharp, clear expression of the new, exciting and dizzyingly-fast-changing world. At the same time it is a dramatic story of people who fought for the freedom of art and self-expression under impossible contradictory conditions, in a whirlwind of change and at the crossroads of ideology and developing technology. It is one chapter in the history of art where it is interwoven inextricably with the history of the country.
Mikhail Larionov. 1910.
A Street with Street-Lamps.
Rayonism.
In Europe and America, artists ventured into similar areas of search and discovery, moving away from the well-known Realism in most forms. Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Abstractionism and many other "...isms" has found expression there. It has begun earlier than Russia, and taken much longer to explore and study. As it should have, in order to allow the artists time to discover and try for themselves the various aspects of the new. There was no rush, after all. Also, these searching were usually quite detached from the political and socio-economic life of the respective countries. No drama, no struggle, no revolutions.
In Russia, the overall movement from the "old" and the familiar has begun in the very turn of the century, together with all the physical, political and social changes happening all at once in the country around them and in their consciousness. The search for art which would represent this turmoil was like a mad rush, furious in its intensity and pace. Perhaps due to their heightened sensitivity, perhaps because of the accelerated pace of their whole lives around them, but Russian artists "swallowed" complicated concepts whole and mastered in a few years what has taken French or Italian artists decades to work through. Perhaps they just felt they had no time, and this gave them the motive and multiplied their already considerable drive to reach new grounds. Be it as it may, one cannot help but wonder at the depth of perception and the speed with which these exceptional people moved through in various directions all at once.
Lubov Popova. 1915.
Traveler.
Cubo-Futurism.
It is enough to glance at the number of artistic groupings and movements, even just the main ones presented here, but surely the full list available separately, to understand just how much work has been done and in how many directions. There was suddenly a whole world of possibilities and the artists divided between them in this exploration, each group choosing its general direction and literally swallowing the concepts and techniques on the move.
It would perhaps be important to notice, for those who are not connected to art in any way, that this search for expression is not like the one of a child or a young student's early studies. It would be more appropriate to compare this search with scientific research for a doctor's degree, or post doctorate, when you need to do it in half or a quarter of the time. The various fields were thoroughly explored and experimented with, works were written on each technique and idea, principles founded and debated, educational systems developed. Most artists were teachers, many were theoreticians and some were founders of separate schools. Especially the latter is true about the "Stand-alone" category artists. These were artists who have developed whole new breakthrough views of art and founded schools of thought and new approach to seeing, to thinking. Wholly new ideas.
Volumes were written on the phenomenon of Russian Avant-garde, and I am not an acclaimed art critic, in fact - I am not an art critic at all. Those who wish to know the opinion of such may read them in these same volumes. I bring here a story of the Russian artists, on the brink of a new fascinating era, and then passing into and living under the impossible rule of the USSR "Communism". A story of a struggle to express themselves, to be heard, to participate in the events and portray them as their affinity dictates, as their deep sensitivity desires. The story of their triumph and tragedy.
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