Russian avant-garde

movement c. 1905-1930 Russia Soviet Union

The Russian avant-garde was the cluster of radical art movements that erupted in the Russian Empire and the early Soviet Union between roughly 1905 and 1930, and remains one of the most concentrated bursts of invention in modern art. In a few years painters moved from Post-Impressionist color to pure abstraction (Kandinsky), to Suprematism's floating geometric planes (Malevich), and to Constructivism's fusion of art with industrial production (Tatlin, Lissitzky). Artists designed posters, books, textiles, and buildings, treating art as a tool for constructing a revolutionary society rather than decorating it. The state's turn to Socialist Realism in the early 1930s ended the experiments, but their influence on abstract art, graphic design, and architecture worldwide has proved enormous and enduring.

First abstract watercolor, painted by Wassily Kandinsky, 1913
First abstract watercolor, painted by Wassily Kandinsky, 1913Public domain (credit: Wassily Kandinsky) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Radical abstraction: form reduced to geometric planes, lines, and pure color
  • Rejection of naturalistic representation in favor of feeling (Kandinsky) or construction (Tatlin)
  • Bold flat color and sharp geometric diagonals
  • Fusion of art with everyday life: posters, typography, textiles, stage, and architecture
  • Collage, photomontage, and industrial materials treated as legitimate media
  • Utopian energy: art as a tool for building a new society

Key figures

  • Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) — Founder of Suprematism, reducing painting to floating geometric form (Black Square)
  • Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) — Pioneer of abstract painting and theorist of spiritual color and form
  • Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953) — Father of Constructivism, building art from industrial materials and schemes
  • Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962) — Painter and designer who moved from folk motifs to Rayonism and avant-garde stage design
  • El Lissitzky (1890-1941) — Designer and painter whose Prouns and posters fused Suprematism with graphic design

Example works

Sources

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