Defining Constructivism
Tate Modern, London 12 February – 17 May 2009

The Tate Modern explores the work of Aleksandr Mikhailovich Rodchenko (1891 – 1956) a Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer, and Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova (1889  –  1924) who was also a Russian avant-garde artist, painter and designer. Through the exhibition Rodchenko and Popova: Defining Constructivism, displayed until 17 May 2009, the Tate documents the two artists’ most influential and integral works, created from 1917 to 1925, which defined Russian Constructivism. 

‘Russia has given birth to its own art, and its name is non-objectivity’, Rodchenko 1918

The Russian Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 was one of the greatest disturbances of the twentieth century. Its leaders envisioned a new society, thoroughly reshaped as if starting from scratch and in agreement with their radical programme of social justice. Constructivism embraced this vision and sought to create new forms of art that would help to bring the new society into being. Both artists rejected the idea of ‘art for art’s sake’ in favour of art as a practice towards social objectives. With the growth of industry, constructivists were also influenced by, and used materials from, modern machinery and technology. They looked upon themselves as engineers rather than artists: they believed they were the engineers of vision. They believed that new forms of art would play a key role in reorganising everyday life. Women, during this time, enjoyed equality with their male colleagues, and the exploration of gender and women’s emancipation through art became a highlight of their revolutionary ideals.

‘I don’t think non-objective form is the final form: it is the revolutionary condition of form’ Popova 1921

The display of Rodchenko’s and Popova’s utilitarian works and multi-media practice demonstrates the degree to which both artists influenced twentieth century fashion, media, theatre, cinema and graphic design.

Starting with painting as an abstract form, Rodchenko focused on the physical qualities of it: colour, surface, texture and types of paint as well as the interaction with light. These qualities, linked with geometric shapes, led to architectonics, a form of art crafted with the aim of creating three-dimensional structures. Examples of these are ‘Design for an air terminal’, Rodchenko 1919, ‘Project for a city’, Rodchenko 1920, ‘Architectonic composition’, Rodchenko 1018, and ‘Design for a kiosk’, Rodchenko 1919.

Wassily Kandinsky, one of the great pioneers of abstract art, was an influential figure in the early development of Constructivism and Rodchenko and Popova were particularly close to him. Several of Rodchenko’s paintings from 1919 show this brand of expressionism, such as ‘Composition no. 117’, sprinkling coloured dots over a black on black surface.

These works with architectural purposes (including some sculpture pieces) are followed by a room dedicated to the 1921 exhibition entitled 5×5=25, organised by Popova and Rodchenko with their colleagues Aleksandra Exter, Aleksandr Vesnin and Varvara Stepanova, Rodchenko’s wife. The enticing ‘Two figures’, created by Stepanova in 1920 and ‘Design for a banner for the USP’ (The All-Russian Union of Poets Club) by Popova 1921 are displayed in rooms 7 & 8 respectively. Room 7 also features Rodchenko’s famous group of ‘true’ monochromatic canvases, Pure red Colour 1921, Pure Yellow Colour 1921, Pure Blue Colour 1921.

Rodchenko then proclaimed, ‘I reduced painting to its logical conclusion and exhibited three canvases: red, blue, and yellow. I affirmed: this is the end of painting.’ For artists of the Russian Revolution, Rodchenko’s radical action was full of utopian desire. It marked the end of easel painting along with the end of bourgeois norms and practices. It cleared the way for the beginning of a new Russian society, a new form of production and a new culture.

‘When I look at the number of paintings I have painted, I sometimes wonder what I should do with them. It would be a shame to burn them; there are over 10 years of work in them. But they are as useless as a church. They serve no purpose whatsoever.’ Rodchenko, Novyi Let no. 6, 1927

When food shortages and famine stroke in 1921, Rodchenko and Popova approached advertising, book and magazine design, taking advantage of Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP), which allowed private enterprise to operate on a limited scale.

‘New byt’ (New everyday life) was a campaign aimed at transforming domestic life in the 1920’s. Furniture, clothing, dishware and other goods were created along with jewellery, textiles and even theatre set and costume designs, and samples of these include ‘Advertising poster for Red October Biscuits’, Rodchenko 1923; ‘Pins; Jewellery for the State Airline Dobrolet’, Rodchenko 1924-26; ‘Set design for Romeo and Juliet’, Moscow Chamber Theatre, 1921; and ‘Set design for the play Earth in Turmoil, by Sergei Tret’iakov, Merkhol’d Theatre, Moscow’, 1922-23.

For the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts and Modern Industry in Paris, Rodchenko showcased his design for a Workers Club – a chess table, bookcases, pull-out projection screens, spaces to read. While in the French city, Rodchenko bought two cameras, and from then on he focused on photography and film.

Popova’s early death in 1924 prevented her from entering this last phase of Constructivism. From 1925, preoccupation was photography and cinematic documentation of street life. Rodchenko used the camera to effectively portray new soviet architecture, and to identify, through powerful portraits, the key players of the Constructivist movement.

Featuring a wealth of constructivist works in the entire spectrum of forms of art during this period in Russia, this exhibition is a superb and indispensable examination of these two artists and of their contribution to a new art movement and re-birth of a nation.

Liane Escorza