Research Task: Constructivists

For this research task I will be exploring a few artists that were active during the constructivist period, taking about their work and styles, how their influenced by Russian folk art and reflect on my observations.

Russian Folk Art

Before I dive in, I just wanted to observe and pick a-part Russian Folk Art, to understand what elements/influences the following artists in their artistic decision making.

"Russian and Ukrianian Folk Arts" can be traced back into communities where they would express old stories and set the standard "for beauty and happiness", this can be done in many ways through objects such as clothing or "wood-carving", as well as paintings and illustrations.

Some beautiful examples I've seen is the iconic Matryoshka Dolls, were you would get intricate paintings of a person that would slowly reduce in size with each doll. There is also "Palekh" miniature paintings that would be hand-crafted scenes from fairy-tales that would be small in size and usually painted on anything from "small treasure boxes" to "pens". Lastly and most beautifully, "Pavlovo-Posad Shawls", showing intricate and beautiful thread-work with powerful, punching colour that would varying in patterns of flowers/plants. 1

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In this instance we would be looking and illustrations, so how can I tell what Russian Folk Art is like?

Lazar (El) Lissitzky (1890-1941)

Seeing Lissitzky's work, I could see that he strayed far from the traditional means of that time, and delved into very geometric shapes and lines, very minimal on the amount of elements on his works. There is depth in shape with the play of tonal colours and play with other shapes; in some cases, layering shapes on top of each other to create different compositions.

Looking at the work against the traditional Russian Folk Art, you can see it has the flow of composition as you would see, and has a little pop of vibrant colour which is very key to Russian Folk Art.

'New Man' (1923), El Lissitzky, lithograph on Paper

Vladimir Lebedev

Lebedev's work has lots of nice round shapes (unless on purpose), with bright colours that bounce off the page. Less focus on abstract-ness compared to Lissitzky.

When observing his work, I noticed that a lot for his shapes contrasts it's local shapes. One shape would either be big or drastically different from the shape it's connected to, that's what gives the work an abstract feel; another point, the "lines" of the shape never truly converge or go in tangent, they either sit on top of another or are slightly separated from another shape.

From this style, I really see the Russian Folk Art come through the colours much more, and the influence of storytelling as a key component compared to Lessitzky's.

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Varvara Fedorovna

Fedorovna blends Lissitzky and Lebedev's styles and made it her own beautifully, she had the strong shapes packed with texture and colour, with geometric lines and strong lines/angles to create the bold chaos of her intricate art.

There's lots of texture and patterns within the art. Her work is incredibly bold and powerful with it's brave designs, it's more chaotic than both previous artists, it has a lot more texture and interesting composition styles.

Comparing to Russian Folk Art, the choices of colours aren't always there but it is as colorful as what you would see in Folk Art. Personally, I feel like the composition also stands out to be heavily influenced by it too, you can pick a line and following the image throughout and allows for you to read the image as you would for a Palekh miniature.

'Billiard Players' (1920), Varvara Fedorovna Stepanova, Oil on canvas.

Nikolai Lapshin

Quite different from the rest of that I have researched, Lapshin in terms of initial outcome appears to be different until you peer deeper into his work. Looking carefully, I started to see similiarities, such a the use of lines and shapes. Lapshin uses (particularlly in the work below), lines to indicate an ijportant build and uses simple shapes to indicate the people of the painting.

The textures of the painting create lines of focus and we're drawn to the light of the painting; then the little subtle pieces of colour comes through (such as Lissitzky). He has done other works the include large scapes, however, they are just as colourful and intricate and the other artists.

Relating to Russian Folk Art, I feel as though story-telling comes through a lot and it's powerful use of colour, the contrasts in colours allows us to see the painting and explored.

October (1939), Nikolai Fedorovich Lapshin, Coloured autolithography.

Solomon Telingater

Telingater's work pack a punch with colour and usually sticks to a small range of colours and includes shape language and interesting textures and does so with what appears to be collage. Observing his work, I could see that he includes shapes and lines in the background of his work to guide the eyes and create the composition with elements on the foreground to tell the story through different imagery. You can see interesting shapes like Lebedev's style and the colour choices of that of Fedorovna.

The colours instantly made me think of the Russian Folk Art, with the use of yellows and red; it apart from that there is a lot of differences, however, after seeing all these artists implement from one another makes you think just how much influence Russian Folk Art has had on these artists.

'Untitled' (1929), Solomon Telingater, U/A.

Observations/Thoughts

When I was thinking about what western artists could have been influenced by Constructivist, I did struggle with who. So I looked up propaganda artists and found 'Philip Zec', particularly his 'Women of Britain- Come into the Factories', it had a lot of similarities with the use of shapes to convey elements and the limited but bold colour palette.

'Women of Britain - Come into the Factories' (1941), Philip Zec, photolithograph.

One artist that I found that is famous for Constructivist influence in their work is 'László Moholy-Nagy'. His work, upon viewing, was very similar to the work of Lissitzky, with the use of geometric lines, interesting shape language and bold use of colour; from the first few times that he replicated the style, he created the still images with geometric composition, but then developed it slowly into his own style. He was really interested in the Bauhaus and the design school which also inspired Lissitzky for his colour schemes. Moholy-Nagy found the philosophy behind constructivism more appealing because of what the ideals were, creating "a good art environment" that could "promote good individual and communal values". 6

Reflection

Observing these artists and seeing how each artist had influenced another, and seeing the sense of style evolve from person to person allows me to step back and think of every artist I observe and wonder what inspired them. It was also really interesting to see how they wanted to reflect society and its evolving spaces, and the philosophy behind construcivists.

I did find this research task difficult, I felt like I was repeating myself a lot and that I wasn't hitting all the right marks for this task, I really liked the artist Nikolai Lapshin's work and Varvara Fedorvna; it was really refreshing to see some new artists and seeing what influences them.

1 U/A, KUROCHKA 'Folk Ar in Russia and Ukiraine', U/A. http://kurochkagifts.com/art-culture/folk-art-in-russia-and-ukraine/ Accessed Feb 24, 2025.

2 U/A, MACALESTER 'Matryoshka', U/A. https://www.macalester.edu/russian-studies/about/resources/miscellany/matryoshka/ Accessed Feb 24, 2025.

3 D. Setdikova, Gateway To Russia 'Palekh: Everything you need to know about this lacquer miniature (PICS)', Mar 5, 2023. https://www.gw2ru.com/arts/1656-palekh-russia-lacquer-miniature Accessed Feb 24, 2025.

4 Wikipedia contributors. (2024, October 29). Pavlovo Posad shawl. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:50, February 24, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pavlovo_Posad_shawl&oldid=1254158167

5 Wikipedia contributors. (2024, December 21). Vladimir Lebedev (artist). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:16, February 24, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir_Lebedev_(artist)&oldid=1264265332

6 Moholy-Nagy Foundation, Moholy Nagy 'LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY: A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST', U/A. https://moholy-nagy.org/biography/ Accessed Feb 24, 2025.

7 File:László Moholy-Nagy, perpe, 1919 (coll. priv.).jpg. (2025, February 2). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 22:36, February 24, 2025 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3_Moholy-Nagy,_perpe,_1919_(coll._priv.).jpg&oldid=992293818.