History & Practice Session 4: Modernism

Modernism (mid 1800s - late 1900s) was a sustained period of innovation and expansion. It was characterised by accelerated advances in science, technology and industry, plus changes in political ideas and power structures. In this session's blog task, we were asked to focus on ​constructivism. 
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​Constructivism

​Following in the footsteps of Italian poet-novelist Marinetti, Russia adopted futurism in a rather violent rejection of the past and celebration of the new. ​Russian Constructivism was soon developed post-WWI from roots in futurism, headed largely by the pre-revolutionary ideas of Vladimir Tatlin. 

The idea of constructivism completely rejected the western definition of an artist - instead, constructivists used art as a means of spreading social messages, particularly communist propaganda. Ultimately, "constructed" from bold text and images to appeal to a semi-literate society, art was used to service revolution. One of the best artistic forms of mass communication is, of course, posters.

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Comparing Constructivist Posters

'Oppressed Peoples of the Whole World' - Gustav Klutsis, 1924

​This is a constructivist agitprop poster by Gustav Klutsis. It utilises both photography and graphic design in a collage.

Personally, the first thing that catches my eye here is the stark contrast in colours. Straight off the bat, the colour red has natural connotations of danger, activating the primal fight or flight response. With the viewer already emotionally charged at a mere glance, they will be more open to

​the message. The bold black text against ivory also implies powerful projection, allowing the viewer to almost "hear" the words being shouted. This effect is amplified by the directional composition of the lines of text, all originating from the mouth of the man on the left.

That, in turn, brings us neatly to the topic of composition. The large size and solitary placement of said man marks him as the main figure, implying a sense of power and authority and encouraging the viewer to "listen" to him. When we then come to actually read the text, we notice the circular shape of the red area - its resemblance to an eyeball with the stark black pupil pointed directly at the speaker implies that many eyes are on him, simultaneously giving the viewer a crawling paranoia that they are being watched too. This feeling might even pressure them to follow and support the poster's message for fear of consequence.

This second image is a more supremacist example of constructivism by El Lissitzky. Lissitzky called these pieces "prouns" (roughly translating to "project for the affirmation of the new"). 

Despite being so different from Klutsis' collage, this illustration utilises similar techniques to convey its message. Again, we have the use of vibrant colour against muted sepia, this time in the form of red 

A Proun by El Lissitzky, 1925

​and blue lines. Both lines stem from the ​​same point before diverging, implying the possible split of the Russian nation (note the coordination between the image's colours and those of the Russian flag). 

​The bulky form and placement of the cube between the lines is suggestive of some kind of "blockage" that has caused the split. In Marinetti's futurism manifesto - the ancestor of Russian constructivism - he notably argued that new ventures were being blocked by attachment to the old. In this sense, we can take the red line as a symbol of those "ascending" into a communistic future, whilst the blue line represents those holding on to the historical concept of a monarchy.