Art in Revolution - ACE032.5

Illustration of Vladimir Tatlin at work on his Monument to the Third International (aka Tatlin’s Tower, commissioned 1919). Models of the tower, a major inspiration of the Constructivist movement, as commentary describes its intended appearance and workings. Tatlin’s 1930 designs for The Tatlin, a man-powered glider. Spatial Constructions (c.1920), by Alexander Rodchenko, developing out of the Futurists’ desire to explore "the nature of space and raw materials". Lissitzky’s Proun Room / (1923), "a demonstraProunen-Raumtion of his theories about the reorganisation of space". Exhibits illustrating the practical applications of these theories taught in institutes of art and design such as the Moscow VKhUTEMAS (1920); photographs of designs and pieces produced, including mass-produced clothing; a chair by Tatlin, chairs by Lissistzky; designs for multi-purpose furniture by some of Rodchenko’s students; Rodchenko’s chess table. Examples of ceramics decorated with Suprematist motifs. Dress designs by Stepanova and Popova, with largely geometrical patterns. Examples of typographical design, "the most successful" (after cinema) "application of the machine art of Constructivism…"; use of bold type, photomontage and overprinting by artists such as Lissistzky, Rodchenko, Klutsis and Alexei Gan. Copies of Lef, the Constructivist journal. Designs by Lissitszky, and his photographic self portrait, The Constructor (1924). Pages from his Suprematist Story of Two Squares in Six Constructions / Suprematicheskii skaz pro dva kvadrata v shesti postroikakh (1922), and Simple Arithmetic (or Four Arithmetic Operations / Chetvire Arithmeticheskii Deistviya) (1928). Views of model of design (1924) by the Vesnin brothers for a never-realised Leningrad Pravda building; description ("… this is the aesthetic of Constructivism…") by Lissiztky read over. Photographs of Grigory Barkhin’s Izvestia building (1927). Street scenes, examples of new architecture. Photographs, designs and models for a Workers’ Club (Palace of Culture) by Rodchenko (1925). People in auditorium of such a club. Athletics, spectators.