Cubism: Dutch & Russian ART HISTORY 132

De Stijl Piet Mondrian ( ) –early work: naturalistic –context: TheosophyTheosophy a type of philosophical mysticism that seeks to unite material and spiritual worlds to disclose concealed essences of reality –aestetic: “non-objective” –aim: take Cubism to logical its conclusion inspired by Cézanne breaks down compositional elements into geometric facets of color –schema: rigid, strictly imposed pure geometry surface grid of horizontal & vertical lines at 90º color  limited to primaries and b/w

Mondrian’s Red Tree (1911)

Mondrian’s Grey Tree (1912)

Mondrian’s Composition (1913)

Mondrian’s Composition in Grey and Ochre (1918)

De Stijl Composition (1920) –style: non-objective severe iconoclastic –theme: renounces world of appearances (see Theosophy) –subject: formalist –spatial order: emphasis on 2-d, flattened plane of canvas surface –line: two directions (horizontal & vertical) of varying widths –composition: irregular –color: limited schema black & white lines primaries on perimeter

De Stijl Broadway Boogie Woogie (1943) –subject: painted upon arrival in NYC –spatial order: emphasis on 2-d, flattened plane of canvas surface –line: two directions (horizontal & vertical) of varying widths –composition: irregular –color: less restricted schema eliminates black & white lines primaries  w/in centralized area

Mondrian’s De Stijl (“Neo-Plasticism”) Broadway Boogie Woogie (1943) vs. Trowbridge’s Politics of Time (2012)

Russian Avant Garde: Suprematism Malevich ( ) – training: Kiev School of Art Moscow Academy of Fine Arts ( ) –political context: Communist Revolution –aesthetic: non-objective –aim: to reduce painting to most simplified elements –color: pure geometric zones aims: to free art from material world no longer bound to canvas (picture plane) pure, unapplied form to set up genuine world order, new philosophy of life –publications: From Cubism to Suprematism (1915) The Non-Objective World (1927)

Suprematism: Malevich Suprematism (1915) –aim: “to free art from burden of object” –effect: radical geometric simplicity –aesthetic: non-objective an art of extreme reduction no reference at all to reality limited to formal elements of line, form & color spatial order negated –influence: Theosophy “The object in itself is meaningless... the ideas of the conscious mind are worthless”

Suprematism: Malevich Airplane Flying (1915) –theme: utopian –aesthetic: non-objective –forms: large, geometric areas of unmodulated color (see Synthetic Cubism) –composition: dynamic diagonal arrangement interlocking forms –spatial order: emphasizes 2-d surface of canvas –color: primaries + b/w –light/shadow: obviated –brushwork: deemphasized

Russian Avant Garde: Constructivism Rodchenko ( ) –biography: childhood in St. Petersburg –training: : provincial art school 1915: moves to Moscow –mature work: investigates material & formal logic of art artistic maturity w/ rise of Bolshevik Revolution (1917) deeply committed to ideals of Communist Revolution rose to prominence in Lenin’s new cultural bureaucracy ( ) –Stalin era: ( ) embroils him in great tragedy utopian aspiration yields to violent dictatorship

Constructivism: Rodchenko Line & Compass Drawing (1915) –medium: compass-and-ruler drawing –aesthetic: non-objective mechanical precision artistic self-image as technician or engineer –spatial order: emphasizes 2-d –forms: fractured by quasi-Cubist network of lines –composition: dynamic sense of movement (see Futurism) –color: reduced to black & white

Constructivism: Rodchenko Two Circles ( 1920) –aim: revolutionary goal to achieve ordered, technologically advanced society –aesthetic: non-objective impersonal; mechanically precise stripped of narrative –meaning: devoid of spiritual/metaphysical trappings arrangement of forms implies political ideology –perspective: reduced to 2-d emphasizes planar surface of canvas –composition: centralized –color: completely absent

Russian Avant Garde: Constructivism Tatlin ( ) –early work: exhibited at several avant- garde exhibitions in Russia (1910) visited Berlin and Paris (1914) –met Picasso –responds to Synthetic Cubism –Post-Communist Revolution (1917) worked for new Soviet Education Commissariate –used art to educate the public –an officially authorized art »utilized “real materials in real space” »design principles based on inner behavior and loading capacities of material

Constructivism: Tatlin Third International Tower (1920) –patron: Dept. of Artistic Work of the People’s Commissariat for Enlightenment –site: intended for central Moscow; never constructed –aesthetic: utopian –aim: “union of purely plastic forms for utilitarian purpose” power/benefits of industrialization visual reinforcement of social & political reality –forms: reductive geometry –function: monument to honor Russian Revolution propaganda & news center –materials: “the culture of materials” revolving glass & iron sheet metal & wood –scale: envisioned as twice as tall as Empire State Building (c. early 1930s) –composition: dynamic tilted spiral cage three (3) geometrically shaped chambers to rotating at different speeds around central axis

Constructivism: Tatlin Third International Tower (1920) –arrangement: decreasing size of chambers paralleled decision-making hierarchy in political system –most authoritative, smallest group at apex bottom –huge cylindrical glass structure –used for lectures & meetings –revolves once/year middle –cone-shaped chamber –administrative functions –monthly rotations top –cubic information center –issues news bulletins & proclamations via most modern means of communication »open-air news screen night) »instrument to project words on clouds on overcast days –daily revolution

IMAGE INDEX Slide 2:Photograph of Piet MONDRIAN. Slide 3:MONDRIAN. Red Tree (1911), Oil on canvas, 30 7/8 x 42 3/8 in., Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Slide 4:MONDRIAN, Piet. Gray Tree (1912). Slide 5:MONDRIAN. Composition in Line and Color (1913), Oil on canvas, 34 5/8 x 45 1/4 in., Riksmuseum, The Netherlands. Slide 6:MONDRIAN, Piet. Composition in Grey and Ochre (1918), oil on canvas, 80.5 x 49.5 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. Slide 7:MONDRIAN, Piet. Composition in Red, Yellow, and Blue (c. 1920), Oil on canvas, 20 ½ x 23 ½ in., Museum of Modern Art, New York. Slide 8:MONDRIAN, Piet. Broadway Boogie Woogie (c. 1945).

IMAGE INDEX Slide 9:MALEVICH, Vladimir. Self Portrait (1933), Oil on canvas, 73 x 66 cm, The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Slide 10:MALEVICH, Vladimir. Suprematism (1915), Oil on canvas, 34 1/2” x 28 3/8”, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Slide 11:MALEVICH, Vladimir. Aeroplane Flying (1915), Oil on canvas, 22 5/8 x 19 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. Slide 12:Photograph of Alexsandr RODCHENKO. Slide 13:RODCHENKO, Aleksandr. Line and Compass Drawing (1915), pen and ink on paper, 10 1/16 x 8 1/16 in., Rodchenko Archive, Moscow. Slide 14:RODCHENKO, Aleksandr. Construction, No. 127 (1920), Oil on canvas, 24 5/8 x 20 7/8 in., The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Department of Private Collections, Moscow.

IMAGE INDEX Slide 15:TATLIN, Vladimir. Self-portrait as a Sailor (1911), Tempera on canvas, 28 1/8 x 28 1/8 in., Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Slide 16:TATLIN, Vladimir. Monument to the Third International (c. 1920), Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden. Slide 17:PUNIN, Nikolai. Monument to the Third International (1920), Cover with letterpress illustration on front, 11 x 8 5/8 in., Gift of The Judith Rothschild Foundation.