El Lissitzky and the Isms of Art

Lazar Markovich Lissitzky

El Lissitzky

1890-1941

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the Isms of Art

When it comes to grap is one of the greats wh of his time. He was par of asymmetrical typogr his own visual languag thoughts and feelings to was greatly influenced made many works duri of Suprematism, Cubism Constructivism.

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phic design El Lissitzky ho challenged the ideas rt of the development raphy and developed ge to communicate his o viewers. El Lissitzky by other artists and ing the movements m, Futurism, and Designed and written by Kaitlin Callender Composed in Futura, designed by Paul Renner in 1927 Printed from a Canon Image Runner onto 40# text Š 2012 Kaitlin Callender Portland, Maine, Maine College of Art

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CANNOT

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Paul Watzlawick

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El Lissitzky was a painter, illustrator, architect, and one of the foremost designers of Constructivism. Lissitzky was born in Russia, attended school in Germany, and then returned to Russia for work.

Due to the war he was unable to work as an architect so he worked as an illustrator and calligrapher designing Hebrew books.

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The Russian Cubo-Fururist style got rid of symmetry in type and dealt with a variety of type faces as well as different sizes and weights.

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F.T. Marinetti and the Italian Futurist movement placed importance on having an impact on the human senses and psyche. This greatly influenced El Lissitzky’s later works.

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Kasimir Malevich, founder of the Suprematist movement, was experimenting with new ways to use space and color that differed from Cubo-Fururist representations.

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The use of space and geometric languages inspired Lissitzky. He decided to make a series of abstract paintings called Prouns.

In these paintings he explored the construction of form in space that derived from Suprematism but had a more monochromatic three-dimensionality to them.

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El Lissitzky then met Vladimir Tatlin the leader of the Constructivist movement as well as other important members like Alexander Rodchenko and Naum Gabo. Lissitzky, under their influence, gave up painting and adopted Constuctivist principles.

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“The space must be a kind of showcase, a stage, on which the pictures make their appearance as actors in a drama (or comedy). It should not imitate a living space.�

El Lissitzky

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El Lissitzky created a synthesis between both Constructivist and Suprematist principles and we now recognize that as ‘modern’ design.

Lissitzky used the dynamic axis and asymmetry of the Suprematists and often weighted the designs at the top like many Suprematist paintings. Eventually Lissitzky started to include photos in his designs. After the Russian revolution he was in forefront of explorations of typography and the printed medium.

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Endnotes

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1. Photograph of Lissitzky at work on the album ‘Fifteen Years in The Red Army’ Moscow 1934 2. The Kid, sketched for the Yiddish Story, El Lissitzky 1917 3. Proun (Project for Progress) before 1924 4. Cover for Architecture: Works for the Architecture Faculty of Vkhutemas 1920-7 5. Page from Had Gadya 1919 6. The Printing plant of “Ogonyok” magazine 1932 7. Photograph of F.T. Marinetti in Milan 8. Words-in-Freedom (Tavalo Parolibera) 9. Suprematist Painting (Eight Red Rectangles) 1915 10. Photograph of Kazimir Severinovich Malevich 1926 11. Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying 1925 Malevich 12. Proun 19D 1922 13. Composition 1922 14. Proun (Project for Progress) G7 1923 15. Photo of Vladimir Tatlin and Model of the Monument to the Third International 1920 16. Photo of Alexander Rodchenko and LEF (Art Journal of the Left Front) Cover design for issue No. 2, April-May, 1923.

17. Photo of Naum Gabo and Column, ca. 192 18. Beat the White with the Red Wedge poser designed by El Lissitzky 1919 19. Nasci, Merz 8/9, cover, El Lissitzky, edited by Kurt Schwitters, Hanover, 1924 20. Photomontage 1931 21. Of Two Squares Dedication Page 1920 22. For the Voice by Mayakovsky illustration for ‘The Left March’ 1923 23. Victory over the Sun: New Man 1923 24. Various pages from Of Two Squares 1922 25. The Constructor, Self- Portrait 1924 26. Of Two Squares Don’t read, get paper,rods, blocks 1920

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Bibliography

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Cramsie, Patrick. The story of graphic design: from the invention of writing to the birth of digital design. New York: Abrams, 2010.

“El Lissitzky : Design Is History.” Home : Design Is History. http://www.designishistory. com/1920/el-lissitzky/.

Garfield, Simon. Just my type: a book about fonts. New York, New York: Gotham Books, 2011.

Odgis, Janet, and El Lissitzky. Lissitzky: contributions to graphic design.. United States: J. Odgis, 1985.

Spiekermann, Erik, and E. M. Ginger. Stop stealing sheep: & find out how type works.

Mountain View, CA: Adobe Press, 1993.

“The History of Visual Communication - The Avantgarde.” elif ayiter___citrinitas. http:// www.citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/avantgarde.html.

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