Avant-Garde as Method

Avant-Garde as Method

Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space

1920–1930

Anna Bokov

Fig. 3 ↓

Avant-Garde as Method

Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space

1920–1930

Anna Bokov

7

Fig. 3 ↓

Avant-Garde as Method

Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space

1920–1930

Anna Bokov

7

Fig. 4 ↓

Fig. 4 ↓

1 2 The School: Institutio na lizing the Avant- Garde Incubator for the New “We” :

Laboratory: Archite cture as Science

Construc ting the Future

64

Revolution in Education

Institutional History :

84

Otkryvayutsya Gosudarstvennye Svobodnye Khudozhestvennye Masterskie (Opening [Announcement] of the Free State Art Studios), 1918 98

Delo po vyboram rukovoditeley Svobodnykh Gosudarstvennykh khudozhestvennykh masterskikh (Dossier of the Election of the Heads of the Free State Art Studios), 1918 [excerpt]

Acknowledgments 16

Foreword

by Kenneth Frampton 22

Obzor deyatelnosti Otdela izobrazitelnykh iskusstv (Review of the Activity of the Department of Fine Arts), 1920 [excerpt]

100

Organi zational Structure :

102 Exposition de 1925: Section URSS: catalogue (Exhibition of 1925 : USSR Section: Catalog), 1925 [excerpt]

26 Foreword by Alexander Lavrentiev Universal Algorithms in Architecture and Design 28 Introduction 40

Plu ra list Con den ser

tions of Objective “Founda Theory Method: of the Architec ture” 186

Anticipa ting Rationa lism:

218 Izvestiya Asnova (Asnova News), 1926 248

“Measu ring Architec ture Spatial with Psychotechnics: Architec ture” 256

112

Consolida ting Core Know ledge

Educa tional Networks:

From Matter to Form

118

Formulas for Space:

From Compo sition to Combina tion 268

Timeline of Vkhutemas and Its Context

Vkhutein, Vysshiy gosudarstvennyy KhudozhestvennoTekhnicheskiy Institut v Moskve (Vkhutein, Higher State Artistic and Technical Institute in Moscow), 1929

Arkhitektura i Vkhutein (Architecture and Vkhutein), 1929

56

140

276

1 2 The School: Institutio na lizing the Avant- Garde Incubator for the New “We” :

Laboratory: Archite cture as Science

Construc ting the Future

64

Revolution in Education

Institutional History :

84

Otkryvayutsya Gosudarstvennye Svobodnye Khudozhestvennye Masterskie (Opening [Announcement] of the Free State Art Studios), 1918 98

Delo po vyboram rukovoditeley Svobodnykh Gosudarstvennykh khudozhestvennykh masterskikh (Dossier of the Election of the Heads of the Free State Art Studios), 1918 [excerpt]

Acknowledgments 16

Foreword

by Kenneth Frampton 22

Obzor deyatelnosti Otdela izobrazitelnykh iskusstv (Review of the Activity of the Department of Fine Arts), 1920 [excerpt]

100

Organi zational Structure :

102 Exposition de 1925: Section URSS: catalogue (Exhibition of 1925 : USSR Section: Catalog), 1925 [excerpt]

26 Foreword by Alexander Lavrentiev Universal Algorithms in Architecture and Design 28 Introduction 40

Plu ra list Con den ser

tions of Objective “Founda Theory Method: of the Architec ture” 186

Anticipa ting Rationa lism:

218 Izvestiya Asnova (Asnova News), 1926 248

“Measu ring Architec ture Spatial with Psychotechnics: Architec ture” 256

112

Consolida ting Core Know ledge

Educa tional Networks:

From Matter to Form

118

Formulas for Space:

From Compo sition to Combina tion 268

Timeline of Vkhutemas and Its Context

Vkhutein, Vysshiy gosudarstvennyy KhudozhestvennoTekhnicheskiy Institut v Moskve (Vkhutein, Higher State Artistic and Technical Institute in Moscow), 1929

Arkhitektura i Vkhutein (Architecture and Vkhutein), 1929

56

140

276

Pedagogy: Teaching as Experiment

3 4 Praxis : Inventing a Universal Future

From the Chair to the City

Pedagogy in Practice :

Prolego mena to “Stepping into the Propae deutics: Unknown”

Iskusstvo v bytu (Art in [Everyday] Life), 1925 [excerpt] 430

286

Rationa lizing “Kitchen of Space: Architec ture” 300

Modeling “The Material of Space: Architec ture” 320

Construc ting Initiative :

410

Armature Universal “The Aggregates: of Everyday Life” 438

Epilogue

Lef: Zhurnal levogo fronta iskusstv (Lef: Journal of the Left Front of the Arts), 1923 [excerpt]

536

476

The Labora tory Course

334 Graphic Construction Course, Initsiativa (Initiative) Assignments, Vkhutemas, 1920–21 360 Space Course Assignments, Obmas, Vkhutemas, 1920–23(24) 376

544

Assembly for the Masses

Great Structures: 478

Envisioning the New City

Dynamic Projections:

Diagrams

498

Glossary 556 Selected Bibliography 568 Index of Names 612 Image Credits

Space Course Assignments, Core Division, Vkhutemas-Vkhutein, 1923–30

Arkhitektura : Raboty arkhitekturnogo fakulteta Vkhutemasa, 1920–1927 (Architecture : Works of the Architecture Department of Vkhutemas, 1920–1927), 1927

Imprint

384

512

618

615

Pedagogy: Teaching as Experiment

3 4 Praxis : Inventing a Universal Future

From the Chair to the City

Pedagogy in Practice :

Prolego mena to “Stepping into the Propae deutics: Unknown”

Iskusstvo v bytu (Art in [Everyday] Life), 1925 [excerpt] 430

286

Rationa lizing “Kitchen of Space: Architec ture” 300

Modeling “The Material of Space: Architec ture” 320

Construc ting Initiative :

410

Armature Universal “The Aggregates: of Everyday Life” 438

Epilogue

Lef: Zhurnal levogo fronta iskusstv (Lef: Journal of the Left Front of the Arts), 1923 [excerpt]

536

476

The Labora tory Course

334 Graphic Construction Course, Initsiativa (Initiative) Assignments, Vkhutemas, 1920–21 360 Space Course Assignments, Obmas, Vkhutemas, 1920–23(24) 376

544

Assembly for the Masses

Great Structures: 478

Envisioning the New City

Dynamic Projections:

Diagrams

498

Glossary 556 Selected Bibliography 568 Index of Names 612 Image Credits

Space Course Assignments, Core Division, Vkhutemas-Vkhutein, 1923–30

Arkhitektura : Raboty arkhitekturnogo fakulteta Vkhutemasa, 1920–1927 (Architecture : Works of the Architecture Department of Vkhutemas, 1920–1927), 1927

Imprint

384

512

618

615

At Obmas the abstract assignments (seven in total) were immediately followed by the production ones–generating a series of seven cycles–from formal investigations to architectural tasks.

The seven categories of exercises were as follows: 1. Form 2. Mass and Weight 3. Mass and Balance 4. Structure 5. Space 6. Dynamics, Rhythm, Relations, and Proportions on a Plane 7. Dynamics, Rhythm, Relations, and Proportions along Vertically NOTE: There are three main phases of Space course exercises: Phase I at Obmas, Phase II and III at the Core Division (Phase II covers abstract exercises and Phase III covers Production Exercises at the Core Division). The exercises are organized in groups, throughout the book. Selected assignments for the exercises are provided in Codas 3.2 (for Obmas) and 3.3 (for the Core Division).

Fig. 3 Viktor Petrov. Abstract exercise on the Articulation of the Geometric Properties of Form (for Assignment No. 1, Architecturl Geometric Form).

Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1920.

Fig. 4 Unknown student.

Abstract exercise on the Articulation of Geometric Properties of Form. Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1920.

Fig. 5 Iosif Grushenko. Production exercise on the Articulation of Volume and Space (Form). Leaching tower for industrial lye processing.

Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1922.

Fig. 6 Unknown student.

Production exercise on the Articulation of Volume and Space (Form). Leaching towers for industrial lye processing.

Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Published in Section URSS: Exposition de 1925 [USSR Section: Catalogue of the 1925 Exhibition] (Moscow/Paris, 1925).

1 Obmas, an acronym for Ob’edinennye [Levyye] Masterskie (United [Left] Studios), was an independent unit within the Architecture Department set up by Nikolay Ladovsky and his colleagues at Vkhutemas in 1920. Obmas was created in opposition to the powerful conservative fraction at Vkhutemas, led by Ivan Zholtovsky, which advocated the classical academic model education. Ladovsky introduced his new architectural course, called Space, at Obmas. After the establishment of the Core Division, Space became a cross-disciplinary course and was open to those students who were beginning their studies at Vkhutemas in 1922–23. However, those who were continuing their studies had a period of overlap–hence in 1924–25 some students were still completing their Space program at Obmas.

14

Fig. 6 ↓

Obmas (Years I and II), 1920–23(24) 1

Fig. 5 ↑

Space Course (Phase I)

At Obmas the abstract assignments (seven in total) were immediately followed by the production ones–generating a series of seven cycles–from formal investigations to architectural tasks.

The seven categories of exercises were as follows: 1. Form 2. Mass and Weight 3. Mass and Balance 4. Structure 5. Space 6. Dynamics, Rhythm, Relations, and Proportions on a Plane 7. Dynamics, Rhythm, Relations, and Proportions along Vertically NOTE: There are three main phases of Space course exercises: Phase I at Obmas, Phase II and III at the Core Division (Phase II covers abstract exercises and Phase III covers Production Exercises at the Core Division). The exercises are organized in groups, throughout the book. Selected assignments for the exercises are provided in Codas 3.2 (for Obmas) and 3.3 (for the Core Division).

Fig. 3 Viktor Petrov. Abstract exercise on the Articulation of the Geometric Properties of Form (for Assignment No. 1, Architecturl Geometric Form).

Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1920.

Fig. 4 Unknown student.

Abstract exercise on the Articulation of Geometric Properties of Form. Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1920.

Fig. 5 Iosif Grushenko. Production exercise on the Articulation of Volume and Space (Form). Leaching tower for industrial lye processing.

Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1922.

Fig. 6 Unknown student.

Production exercise on the Articulation of Volume and Space (Form). Leaching towers for industrial lye processing.

Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Published in Section URSS: Exposition de 1925 [USSR Section: Catalogue of the 1925 Exhibition] (Moscow/Paris, 1925).

1 Obmas, an acronym for Ob’edinennye [Levyye] Masterskie (United [Left] Studios), was an independent unit within the Architecture Department set up by Nikolay Ladovsky and his colleagues at Vkhutemas in 1920. Obmas was created in opposition to the powerful conservative fraction at Vkhutemas, led by Ivan Zholtovsky, which advocated the classical academic model education. Ladovsky introduced his new architectural course, called Space, at Obmas. After the establishment of the Core Division, Space became a cross-disciplinary course and was open to those students who were beginning their studies at Vkhutemas in 1922–23. However, those who were continuing their studies had a period of overlap–hence in 1924–25 some students were still completing their Space program at Obmas.

14

Fig. 6 ↓

Obmas (Years I and II), 1920–23(24) 1

Fig. 5 ↑

Space Course (Phase I)

16

Fig. 7 ↓

Fig. 8 Installation view of the exhibition of student exercises showing models and drawings from the Space course at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1922.

The exhibition features the work of the United (Left) Studios (Obmas) taught by Nikolay Ladovsky, Vladimir Krinsky, and Nikolay Dokuchaev.

The models on display are of leaching towers for industrial lye processing created for the production assignment on the Articulation of Volume and Space (Form). On the wall are drawings of Mass and Balance and Mass and Weight exercises.

Fig. 8 ↓

This undertaking would not have been possible without the intellectual guidance and support of many outstanding individuals.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Thomas Kramer, Managing Director of Park Books, for believing in this project and for taking it on; editor Lisa Schons for her insight and expertise in editing the manuscript; and designers Valeria Bonin and Diego Bontognali of Bonbon Studio, for their creativity and precision in bringing together the visual complexity of this project.

The publication of this book is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

Much of the research for the manuscript was done as part of my doctoral studies at Yale University. I am infinitely grateful to Katerina Clark, my dissertation advisor, who was instrumental in guiding me through multiple stages of this work; to Kurt Forster, whose formidable intellectual presence as the director of the PhD program encouraged and supported this project from the very beginning; to Jean-Louis Cohen, for his sustained commitment and exceptional scholarly expertise on the subject; to Anthony Vidler, for his invaluable guidance, keen insights, and spirited encouragement ; to Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, Alan Plattus, and Stanislaus von Moos for their support throughout the various facets of the dissertation ; and to the Deans of Yale School of Architecture, Robert A.M. Stern and Deborah Berke, for providing a haven for scholarly research. A debt of gratitude is owed to Kenneth Frampton for his encouragement from the beginning and his contribution to this book in the form of a foreword.

The visual material featured in the book has been made available thanks to several individuals and institutions. I am grateful to Kevin Repp, the curator of Modern European Books & Manuscripts, for the opportunity to conduct research at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale—in particular, Peter Eisenman’s collection of Russian avant-garde publications—and for making it possible to research the core material for this publication through the Beinecke grant. Images from the collections of the Canadian Center for Architecture, the Getty Research Institute, and Harvard Art Museums/BuschReisinger Museum provided deeper visual fidelity to this book.

I would like to acknowledge the fundamental role of the late Selim Khan-Magomedov, whom I was fortunate to know personally and whose work on Vkhutemas served as an important foundation to my research. He kindly presented me with over a hundred photographic reproductions from his extensive archive in 2003, when I first began to study Vkhutemas while a student at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard.

I would like to sincerely thank several individuals and institutions in Moscow for their generous contribution of images to the book: Dmitry Shvidkovsky, the Dean of Moscow Architectural Institute ; Larisa Ivanova-Veen, the Founding Director of the Museum of the History of Moscow School of Architecture at MARKhI ; Elizaveta Lihacheva, the Director of the State Shchusev Museum of Architecture ; and Julia Sadovnikova, Deputy Director of the Mayakovsky Museum.

I am fortunate to have met Alexander Lavrentiev—art historian, designer, curator, professor, Deputy Dean of the Moscow State Stroganov Academy, the grandson of Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova, and custodian of the Rodchenko Stepanova Archive—whose outstanding scholarship on the Russian avant-garde has been instrumental in my research and who wrote a foreword to this book, thank you.

Fig. 7 Lev Bumazhnyy.

Production exercise on the Articulation of Volume and Space (Form). Leaching tower for industrial lye processing.

Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1922.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

16

Fig. 7 ↓

Fig. 8 Installation view of the exhibition of student exercises showing models and drawings from the Space course at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1922.

The exhibition features the work of the United (Left) Studios (Obmas) taught by Nikolay Ladovsky, Vladimir Krinsky, and Nikolay Dokuchaev.

The models on display are of leaching towers for industrial lye processing created for the production assignment on the Articulation of Volume and Space (Form). On the wall are drawings of Mass and Balance and Mass and Weight exercises.

Fig. 8 ↓

This undertaking would not have been possible without the intellectual guidance and support of many outstanding individuals.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Thomas Kramer, Managing Director of Park Books, for believing in this project and for taking it on; editor Lisa Schons for her insight and expertise in editing the manuscript; and designers Valeria Bonin and Diego Bontognali of Bonbon Studio, for their creativity and precision in bringing together the visual complexity of this project.

The publication of this book is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

Much of the research for the manuscript was done as part of my doctoral studies at Yale University. I am infinitely grateful to Katerina Clark, my dissertation advisor, who was instrumental in guiding me through multiple stages of this work; to Kurt Forster, whose formidable intellectual presence as the director of the PhD program encouraged and supported this project from the very beginning; to Jean-Louis Cohen, for his sustained commitment and exceptional scholarly expertise on the subject; to Anthony Vidler, for his invaluable guidance, keen insights, and spirited encouragement ; to Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, Alan Plattus, and Stanislaus von Moos for their support throughout the various facets of the dissertation ; and to the Deans of Yale School of Architecture, Robert A.M. Stern and Deborah Berke, for providing a haven for scholarly research. A debt of gratitude is owed to Kenneth Frampton for his encouragement from the beginning and his contribution to this book in the form of a foreword.

The visual material featured in the book has been made available thanks to several individuals and institutions. I am grateful to Kevin Repp, the curator of Modern European Books & Manuscripts, for the opportunity to conduct research at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale—in particular, Peter Eisenman’s collection of Russian avant-garde publications—and for making it possible to research the core material for this publication through the Beinecke grant. Images from the collections of the Canadian Center for Architecture, the Getty Research Institute, and Harvard Art Museums/BuschReisinger Museum provided deeper visual fidelity to this book.

I would like to acknowledge the fundamental role of the late Selim Khan-Magomedov, whom I was fortunate to know personally and whose work on Vkhutemas served as an important foundation to my research. He kindly presented me with over a hundred photographic reproductions from his extensive archive in 2003, when I first began to study Vkhutemas while a student at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard.

I would like to sincerely thank several individuals and institutions in Moscow for their generous contribution of images to the book: Dmitry Shvidkovsky, the Dean of Moscow Architectural Institute ; Larisa Ivanova-Veen, the Founding Director of the Museum of the History of Moscow School of Architecture at MARKhI ; Elizaveta Lihacheva, the Director of the State Shchusev Museum of Architecture ; and Julia Sadovnikova, Deputy Director of the Mayakovsky Museum.

I am fortunate to have met Alexander Lavrentiev—art historian, designer, curator, professor, Deputy Dean of the Moscow State Stroganov Academy, the grandson of Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova, and custodian of the Rodchenko Stepanova Archive—whose outstanding scholarship on the Russian avant-garde has been instrumental in my research and who wrote a foreword to this book, thank you.

Fig. 7 Lev Bumazhnyy.

Production exercise on the Articulation of Volume and Space (Form). Leaching tower for industrial lye processing.

Space course, Nikolay Ladovsky’s studio (Obmas) at Vkhutemas. Moscow, 1922.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

520 521

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 13 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 11

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 12 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 10

520 521

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 13 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 11

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 12 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 10

522 523

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 17 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 15

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 16 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 14

522 523

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 17 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 15

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 16 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 14

524 525

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 21 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 19

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 20 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 18

524 525

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 21 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 19

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 20 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 18

526 527

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 25 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 23

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 24 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 22

526 527

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 25 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 23

↑

Coda 4.3 Fig. 24 ↓

Coda 4.3 Fig. 22

Anna Bokov’s book is the first comprehensive discussion of the pedagogical program implemented between 1920 and 1930 at Moscow’s Higher Workshops for Art and Technology for the teaching of architecture to thousands of young people without previous educational background. She documents with great precision the innovative strategies conceived by Nikolay Ladovsky and his colleagues in order to teach basic spatial, visual, and tactile skills far beyond hitherto best-known parallels such as the Bauhaus. Her analysis is a welcome contribution to the history of architectural education in the age of Modernism.

Jean-Louis Cohen Sheldon H. Solow Professor in the History of Architecture, New York University

With this book Anna Bokov provides the first comprehensive account of the pedagogical practice at Vkhutemas, Soviet Moscow’s approximate counterpart to the Bauhaus. Unlike the Bauhaus, Vkhutemas had a mandate to produce architects from the un tutored masses, yet in meeting this challenge contrived to turn their classrooms into laboratories for scientific and archi tectural innovation. Previous Western coverage of Vkhutemas has foregrounded the Constructivist presence in the school and neglected the other major avant-garde group, the Rationalists, headed by Nikolay Ladovsky. Anna Bokov seeks to redress this imbalance and provide succinct analyses of their theoretical and pedagogical work.

Katerina Clark B. E. Bensinger Professor of Comparative Literature and of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University

Vkhutemas, like the Bauhaus, prepared students for a brave new world whose future was aborted by tyranny and war, but whose premises could not be more meaningful today. Anna Bokov assesses the teaching at Vkhutemas with unique insight, drawing critical con clusions from her adventurous analysis, and fathoming the extraordinary range of architectural and design inven tion emanating from this revolutionary school.

Kurt W. Forster Honorary FRIBA, Emeritus professor ETH, Zurich

With forewords by Kenneth Frampton and Alexander Lavrentiev

Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-03860-134-0

9

An extraordinarily informative and comprehensive study of Vkhutemas, the school of art and architecture founded after the Revolution in Soviet Russia.

Influential on, and arguably more influential than, the better-known Bauhaus, Vkhutemas established the roots of the new architecture between 1920 and 1930. Drawing on a range of hitherto unpublished archival sources, Anna Bokov presents detailed studies of the curriculum and student work in the context of the intellectual and aesthetic forces that guided the school in its search for a new architecture for a new society. This book will be a revelation to scholars and the general public, positioning Vkhutemas as an equal peda gogical force to the Bauhaus in the shaping of the Modern movement in architecture and design.

Anthony Vidler Professor, The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union