Here we delve into what I would like to call ‘art student territory’ . As a trained Engineer its a scary place to be ! Probably the opposite of our cosy British railway posters, certainly daring and in some case hard to understand. A definition :
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, at a time when the revolution of 1917 had been consolidated and the new Soviet government was building a new communist society.
Through the 1920s the Constructivists developed radical new architecture, graphic design, film and photography, and pioneered design styles for the new mass production techniques that were helping turn Russia from an agricultural society to an industrial one.
Centrally, the Constructivists rejected the idea of art being autonomous from the rest of society: to them, all art and design was a political tool. In short, Russia was their canvas, the building of the new Soviet nation an art project of gigantic scale.
So its big ideas to an industrial background. i’ve noticed also that
- There is an element of shock or something unusual
- Usually mixed media particularly mixing art with b/w photos.
One of the key artists is Alexander Rodchenko and this is one of his images
Lets take a look at what some of these posters sold for in the last Christies sale …… tomorrow.