A-Z: Constructivism
Art History Glossary
Constructivism
| kənˈstrəktivˈizəm | noun |
Constructivism was founded around the time of the Bolshevik revolution by Russian and Soviet artists, Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko. Constructivism rejected subjective, individualistic, and bourgeois elements. Instead, the movement reflected the idealism of the early Soviet Union. Constructivist artists promoted abstract, industrial forms and worked as engineers in the service of a greater, collectivist good.
Example: The 1917 Bolshevik revolution was immediately followed by the Russian Civil War between revolutionary “Reds” and counterrevolutionary “Whites,” including Russian monarchists and foreign interventionists. In 1919, Russian artist El Lissitzky produced a famous, Constructivist propaganda poster titled Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge. The Whites appear simply as a white circle. The counterrevolutionaries are pierced by a sharp, determined red wedge representing the Red Army. The Soviet Union survived the Civil War, and El Lissitzky survived long enough to create similar posters for the USSR’s fight against Nazi Germany.
See abstract, propaganda, socialist realism.
