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LESSON TWO: Constructing Things
IMAGE SIX:
Aleksandr Rodchenko. Russian,
1891–1956. Spatial Construction no. 12.
c. 1920. Plywood, open construction partially
painted with aluminum paint, and wire,
24 x 33 x 18
1
⁄
2
" (61 x 83.7 x 47 cm). The
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquisi-
tion made possible through the extraordinary
efforts of George and Zinaida Costakis, and
through the Nate B. and Frances Spingold,
Matthew H. and Erna Futter, and Enid A.
Haupt Funds. © 2006 Aleksandr Rodchenko
IMAGE SEVEN:
László Moholy-Nagy. American,
born Hungary. 1895–1946. Nickel Construction.
1921. Nickel-plated iron, welded, 14
1
⁄
8
x 6
7
⁄
8
x
9
3
⁄
8
" (35.9 x 17.5 x 23.8 cm). The Museum of
Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. Sibyl
Moholy-Nagy. © 2006 Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
IMAGE EIGHT:
Vladimir Tatlin. Russian,
1885–1953. Monument to the Third Interna-
tional by Nikolai Punin. 1920. Illustrated book
with one letterpress illustration on front cover,
page: 11 x 8
5
⁄
8
" (28 x 21.9 cm). Publisher: Izo
NKP, Petersburg. Edition: unknown. The
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of
The Judith Rothschild Foundation, 2001.
© 2006 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
INTRODUCTION
The years 1917 to 1922 brought both civil turmoil and possibility to Russia. Artists believed
that their modernist, iconoclastic approach to art would help to create a new language for
the free, Communist state. The artists discussed in this lesson, Aleksandr Rodchenko, László
Moholy-Nagy, and Vladimir Tatlin, were all concerned with redefining art’s engagement
with life. Constructivism, as their movement came to be called, sought to apply aesthetic
ideals to everyday material experience. These artists, along with their colleagues, thought of
themselves as collaborative scientists working toward the creation of a new visual vocabu-
lary based on their experiments with new forms and materials (they even called their art-
making efforts “laboratory work”). Their artwork challenged traditional notions of form by
relinquishing references to the figure and experimenting with materials. As Rodchenko later
reflected on this exciting, idealistic moment in history, “We were for the new man; we felt
him but did not imagine him clearly. . . . We created a new understanding of beauty, and
enlarged the concept of art.”
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LESSON OBJECTIVES
•
Students will be introduced to artists who developed new visual forms through experimentation.
•
Students will consider artists’ choices of material.
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Students will be introduced to the term “Constructivism.”
INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION
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Ask your students to think about the kinds of choices an artist might make when creating a
sculpture.
•
Invite your students to discuss some differences between viewing a painting and a sculpture.
•
The artists discussed in this lesson experimented with new forms and materials. Ask your stu-
dents to consider what makes an experiment effective. Reflecting on their own experience in
science labs at school, what are some of the components of conducting an experiment (such
as a control, specified substances, specified quantities, et cetera)?
IMAGE-BASED DISCUSSION
Begin by looking at Rodchenko’s Spatial Construction no. 12 (Image Six). Refrain from
telling your students the title right away.
•
Ask each student to come up with a word that they might associate with this object. Note
what types of words students volunteer. Are the word choices similar? Do they differ?
•
Ask your students what they notice about the shapes that make up this object. How do they
think the object was constructed?
•
This work hangs from the ceiling. Ask your students to imagine what it would be like to walk
under and around it. Would different viewpoints change how it looks? Based on your students’
initial word associations, along with their visual analysis, does the work remind them of any
other object?
•
Introduce the title of the work to your students. Ask them if the title seems appropriate. Ask
them why or why not.
7. Magdalena Dabrowski, in Aleksandr Rodchenko. Dabrowski et al. (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1998), 23–4.
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In 1920, in a move away from the confines of painting, Rodchenko embarked upon a series
of three-dimensional studies that he titled Light Reflecting Constructions. “Construction,”
noted Rodchenko, “may be defined as the system by which an object is assembled from
appropriately used materials.”
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These constructions were made to be folded in two dimen-
sions or suspended from the ceiling in three dimensions. The constructions were basic geo-
metric shapes: an oval, a circle, a triangle, a square, a hexagon, and an octagon. The oval
(Image Six) is the only surviving work from the series. Rodchenko painted parts of these
constructions with aluminum paint, so that the suspended shapes would reflect light and
cast shadows. Rodchenko’s studied approach to material and shapes in this series reveals his
interest in the scientific and mathematical research of the time.
•
Ask your students to look at Moholy-Nagy’s
Nickel Construction (Image Seven). Ask them to
describe in detail what they see. What shapes or elements can they describe? Ask them to
compare this object to Rodchenko’s
Spatial Construction no. 12. What similarities and differ-
ences can they find between the two artists’ methods of construction?
•
In-class writing exercise (students may choose one of the following topics):
1. Ask your students to imagine that they are archeologists who have discovered Moholy-
Nagy’s
Nickel Construction in a long-forgotten warehouse filled with various objects from
the twentieth century. Ask them to write down their ideas about why this object might have
been created. Who might have used the object? Based on their analysis, what title would
they give the object?
2. Ask your students to imagine that they are inventors living in the twenty-second century.
They have created this object for a futuristic purpose. What will it be used for? Who would
use this object? What should it be called?
Moholy-Nagy’s Nickel Construction reveals the Hungarian artist’s interest in Russian Con-
structivist principles. In 1922, a large exhibition of Russian work took place in Berlin. This
exhibition would have a great impact on other major artistic projects, such as the Dutch
movement de Stijl (“the style”) and Bauhaus, a German art school and movement. In his
first year as professor at the Bauhaus (then located in the German city Weimar), Moholy-
Nagy established a Constructivist method of teaching centered on scientific and artistic
experimentation with the structural capabilities of different materials such as glass, metal,
rubber, paper, celluloid, cork, and wood.
•
Ask your students to look at Tatlin’s
Monument to the Third International (Image Eight). Let
them know that the work is a print taken from a book. Ask them to look carefully at the
image. Inform them that this is a proposal for a monument that was never built. Ask them to
reflect on the purpose of monuments. How does the way a monument looks reflect its pur-
pose? Ask your students to identify some important decisions Tatlin made in his design.
•
Ask your students to compare
Monument to the Third International with Rodchenko’s Spatial
Construction no. 12. What similarities and differences do they see in the two constructions’
lines and forms?
Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International is symbolic of the aspirations of the Russian
Constructivists and the young Soviet state. In 1918, the Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin
launched his “Plan for Monumental Propaganda,” under which Tatlin was commissioned to
create a project for a monument to the Revolution. The 1920 public unveiling of the model
for the proposed tower caused a sensation.
8. Aleksandr Rodchenko, “The Line” (1921), in Art into Life: Russian Constructivism, 1914–32 (New York: Rizzoli 1990). 73
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In his architectural proposal, Tatlin captured an idealistic view of Russia’s spiraling ascent in
the world. As he stated at the unveiling, “It becomes possible to combine purely artistic
forms with utilitarian goals.”
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Comprised of glass and steel, the structure was intended to
dwarf the Eiffel Tower of Paris in both height and dramatic effect. The enormous tower
would straddle the Neva River in St. Petersburg, its tilting crown pointing to the North Star.
Although the tower was never built it developed a cultlike following within the Soviet Union
as well as in international circles.
After the unveiling of the proposal, Constructivists increasingly sought to apply their artis-
tic efforts toward architecture, technology, and industry, as well as, inevitably, Soviet propa-
ganda. In 1922, Constructivist Aleksei Gan would go so as far as to declare, “Art is dead!
There is no room for it in the human work apparatus. Work, technique and organization!”
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ACTIVITIES
1. Constructivist Laboratory
In the spirit of the Constructivist experimentation with basic materials and forms, students
will create their own laboratory. Divide your students into groups, assigning each group a
different material (or the entire class can work with one material). Materials can include
newspapers, magazines, cardboard, wire, foam, sponges, and tinfoil. Each group should try
to create a form that stands on its own and/or can be suspended from the ceiling. The stu-
dents should be given just the necessary tools (such as masking tape, wire cutters, scissors,
and string). Encourage your students to be creative in determining how to create strong
structures (for example, newspaper rolled into tubes makes sturdy structural units).
2. Revolutionary Russia
Ask your students to research and create a timeline of the Russian Revolution of 1917. They
should elaborate on key figures and moments. In creating the timeline, ask your students to
employ some of the propagandistic techniques used by many of the Constructivist artists
(such as Gustav Klucis, Lissitzky, and Rodchenko) including photomontage, collage (of
both text and images), and trademark Soviet colors such as red, black, and white.
3. Discovering Russian Female Artists
Women played a major role in revolutionary Russia. Many of the most accomplished
modern Russian artists were women, including Liubov Popova, Elena Semenova, and Var-
vara Stepanova (lifelong collaborator and wife of Rodchenko). Have your students research
the artwork of some of these Russian artists on the Web.
9. Vladimir Tatlin, “The Work Ahead of Us” (1921),” in Art into Life, 100.
10. Aleksei Gan, “Constructivism” (1922), in Art And Theory, 344.
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