+ Aleksandr Rodchenko
Born into a working class family and growing up in St. Petersburg, Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko had little to no exposure to the art world before beginning a career that spanned across a multitude of mediums. A talented artist with a portfolio touching on every different aspect of the visual arts, Rodchenko was not only a graphic designer, but also a painter, a sculptor, a photojournalist, a costume designer, a set designer, and even a product designer. His path to design was elaborate and complicated as his career was continuously affected by the Russian Revolution and Civil War.
At the time of the 19th century, there was intense turmoil going on throughout Western Europe which created an atmosphere for social and political tension. An intelligentsia of dissidents banded together to fight for Western beliefs, freedom and social justice. At the turn of the century, with much pressure coming from social tensions, industrialization brought about the opportunity for people to come together and form a political underground. Russian artists were exchanging information and ideas going into the 20th century with contacts in Europe. Kandinsky for example, greatly impacted how culture and art developed externally. Russian artists were very interested in the inventions coming out of the West. Rodchenko had just moved to Moscow at the right time as people were beginning to feel strong passions for the arts.
He attended the Kazan Art School in 1910 where he met his wife, Stepanova and had the chance to study under the teachings of Nicolai Fechin and Georgii Medvedev. He continued his studies then at the Stroganov Institute, making abstract artwork in response to the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich. In 1921, Rodchenko joined the Productivist group fighting for the main goal which was to integrate art into every day life, for everyone to enjoy. Additionally, he was appointed Director of the Museum Bureau and Purchasing Fund by the Bolshevik Government just a year earlier. Later on, he was named as the secretary of the Moscow Artists’ Union and ended up as the founder of the Institute of Artistic Culture.
At this point, he put his talents in painting on hold and started to become more serious about designing posters and shooting photography. In terms of photography, around the 1930s he was focusing on capturing the essence of mostly sports or any activity that involved choreography. Rodchenko had a particular style this photography — always making sure that it was socially engaging and most importantly “opposed to a painterly aesthetic”. He would purposely compose images to make the viewer think twice about what they were seeing exactly.
Being a member of the October circle was short-lived as he was only part of the group for three years. He was eventually asked to leave after complaints that his artwork was giving into formalism. After this, his art process somewhat starts working backwards. He spends most of the 1930s painting, stops photography completely in 1942, and then worked on abstract drawings and such into the 1940s. By 1921, he had decided that he wanted to really explore more deeply into their ideas and vision. They wanted him to give up all of his time during the week to help design and prototype objects. Throughout the mid-1920s into the early 1930s, Rodchenko produced work as the house artist for Lef and Novyi Lef. Lef was a group konwn as the Left Front of the Arts, started by Mayakovsky. They worked to help turn Marx’s social ideas into a reality. In the mid-1930s, he began to pick up painting again even though he was the one who famously said in 1921 that painting was over.
By the time the Civil War ended in 1921, people were feeling miserable as the economy had crashed terribly. The following year was when Lenin became gravely ill, opening up the chance to protest and change allowing for more artistic freedom.
“His diaries suggest that he never understood the forces that drove him from the prominence he had enjoyed in the decade after 1917, and eventually rendered him, as he put it, “an invisible man”.
Rodchenko was heavily influenced by Cubism and Futurism and Malevich’s Suprematist compositions. He collaborated with and admired Dziga Vertov for his work in film. He had a similar relationship with Tatlin who he was an apprentice under for a period of time. In terms of client work, Rodchenko made a line of various products for Dobrolet, the state airline company. He made everything from advertisements to posters. For other clients he crafted bookmarks, made photo-montages and more.
One of Rodchenko’s most notable pieces is known as the declaration of “The End of Painting”. He painted on three separate canvases a block of red, yellow and blue.
“I reduced painting to its logical conclusion and exhibited three canvases: red, blue, and yellow. I affirmed: it’s all over.”[5]
He was trying to make a statement against a fundamental principle of Suprematism. As Malevich used white in his paintings, Rodchenko would use black.
Rodchenko eventually turned to painting again towards the end of his career as mentioned above. He and his wife used painting as a medium to express their feelings of abandonment. The Cultural Revolution had discredited them and other leftists for their work, causing them to feel immensely isolated and outcasted.
Rodchenko has made such a lasting impact in the realm of graphic design. His style can be seen today within the works of Shepard Fairey and Barbara Kruger with the color palette use of red, black and cream.
Draft #2
Born into a working class family in St. Petersburg, Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko began with little to no exposure in the arts. Over time, he discovered his talents and built up a portfolio of pieces across varying mediums. Rodchenko was not just a graphic designer. He was a painter, sculptor, photojournalist, costume designer, set designer, and even a product designer. His path to design was a complicated one that was directly impacted by the turmoil which Russia faced going into the 20th century.
There was political unrest throughout Europe while Rodchenko was attempting to launch his career. An intelligentsia of dissidents came together to advocate Western beliefs, freedom and social justice. Industrialization of Russia in the 20th century allowed for the chance of people to experiment methods of showing protest. Russian artists were exchanging information with other artists across Europe. Kandinsky for example, greatly impacted how culture and art developed externally. Russian artists were very interested in the inventions coming out of the West. Rodchenko had just moved to Moscow at the right time as people were beginning to feel strong passions for the arts.
He attended the Kazan Art School in 1910 where he met his wife, Stepanova. He then went on to study at the Stroganov Institute, making abstract artwork in response to the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich. In 1921, Rodchenko joined the Productivist group fighting for the main goal which is to integrate art into every day life. Additionally, he was appointed as Director of the Museum Bureau and Purchasing Fund by the Bolshevik Government. Around 1940, Rodchenko decided to retire from photography to focus on painting.
They wanted him to give up all of his time during the week to help design and prototype objects. Throughout the 1920s, Rodchenko produced work as the house artist for Lef (Left Front of the Arts), a group started by Mayakovsky. They worked to help turn Marx’s social ideas into a reality. Rodchenko was heavily influenced by Cubism and Futurism and Malevich’s Suprematist compositions. He collaborated with and admired Dziga Vertov for his work in film. He had a similar relationship with Tatlin who he was an apprentice under for a period of time. In terms of client work, Rodchenko made a line of various products for Dobrolet. He made everything from advertisements to posters.
One of Rodchenko’s most notable pieces is known as the declaration of “The End of Painting”. He claims, “I reduced painting to its logical conclusion and exhibited three canvases: red, blue, and yellow. I affirmed: it’s all over.”[5] He was trying to make a statement against a fundamental principle of Suprematism. As Malevich used white in his paintings, Rodchenko would use black.
Rodchenko eventually turned to painting again towards the end of his career as mentioned above. He and his wife used painting as a medium to express their feelings of abandonment. The Cultural Revolution had discredited them and other leftists for their work, causing them to feel immensely isolated and outcasted.
Rodchenko has made such a lasting impact in the realm of graphic design. His style can be seen today within the works of Shepard Fairey and Barbara Kruger with the color palette use of red, black and cream.
