El Lisitsky (also El, pseudonym: the initial of his real name is Lazar; 1890, Pochinok station, now in the Smolensk region - 1941, Moscow) - Soviet artist-designer, graphic artist, architect, master of the exhibition ensemble.
Biography of El Lissitzky
Grew up in religious family grandfather (paternal), hereditary hat maker. While studying at the Smolensk Real School (graduated in 1908), he became interested in drawing and modern art.
Not admitted to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts due to his violation of academic canons in the examination drawing, Lissitzky left in 1909 for Darmstadt, where in 1914 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Architecture of the Higher Technical School.
In 1912 he visited Paris, in 1913 he walked to Italy, which awakened in him a craving for primitive forms of archaic, folk, and modern art, and also instilled a cult of professional skill throughout his life.
In 1914, Lissitzky settled in Moscow, in 1915–16. visited the Riga Polytechnic Institute, which was evacuated there (to receive a Russian diploma in architectural engineering), was engaged mainly in graphics, participated in the work of the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts (exhibitions in 1917 and 1918, Moscow, in 1920, Kyiv) and exhibitions of the World of Art association (1916 and 1917). Lazar Lissitsky was “an artist of great social emotions” (N. Khardzhiev), of high creative intensity, who had a keen sense of modernity.
Lissitzky's work
The creative path of L. Lisitsky (his active work lasted from 1917 to 1933) is not without complex contradictions, unfinished searches, perhaps even paradoxes, but the era itself was extremely complex - a time of merciless struggle of class ideas and ideologies in culture and art, when a decisive break in social relations rejected by history took place.
Lazar Lissitsky was “an artist of great social emotions” (N. Khardzhiev), of high creative intensity, who had a keen sense of modernity.
The nature of his talent did not allow Lissitzky to engage in abstract, consistent linguistic abstraction. Therefore, later he became close to production workers and constructivists, in 1925 he joined the Association of New Architects (ASNOVA) and began teaching the discipline “Furniture Design” at Vkhutemas; his design talent will manifest itself in the design of Soviet pavilions at international exhibitions (“Press” in Cologne, 1924; “Film and Photo” in Stuttgart, 1929; hygiene exhibition in Dresden and fur exhibition in Leipzig, 1930).
But this will happen after the artist has experienced his most active period: being sent to Berlin in 1921, until 1925 he practically played the role of an emissary of the new Soviet art in Europe.
Promoting the Soviet avant-garde in the stylistic unity of its constituent concepts (Suprematism, constructivism, rationalism), Lissitzky integrated it into the Western context. Together with I. G. Ehrenburg he founded the magazine “Thing” (1922), with M. Stam and G. Schmidt - the magazine “ABC” (1925), with G. Arp he published a book-montage “Kunstism” (Zurich, 1925), established connections with Le Corbusier's magazine Esprit nouveau.
He became a member of the Dutch architectural association "Style" and participated in competitions and exhibitions. At the same time, he continued to work a lot in advertising and book graphics (probably his best book, “For the Voice” by V.V. Mayakovsky), was published in Berlin in 1923), in photography and posters.
Artist's works
- Composition. OK. 1920. Gouache, ink, pencil
- “Beat the whites with a red wedge.” Poster. 1920. Color lithograph
- Title page of the album "Victory over the Sun". 1923
- Four (arithmetic) operations. 1928. Color lithograph
- Illustration for Jewish folk tale"Goat." 1919
Poster for El Lissitzky’s lecture “Modern Art in Russia” in Hannover 1923
Paper, lithograph 41.3 x 58.5 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Introduction. How Lissitsky ended up with Shukhov
These days, a retrospective exhibition of El Lissitzky is taking place in Moscow. The organizers decided on an interesting step to divide it into 2 parts, territorially separate: Part I - in the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, and Part II - in the New Tretyakov Gallery.
I decided to write down my impressions immediately after visiting the Jewish Museum, without going to the Tretyakov Gallery. I suppose there will be 3 notes: I, II - dedicated to the Tretyakov exhibition and containing the chronology of the artist’s life, and III - I would like to devote to EL book graphics.
Placing part of the exhibition in the Jewish Museum seems symbolic. It's not about nationality, but about the museum space itself. The Tolerance Center occupies the building of the former Bakhmetyevsky garage - an architectural monument Soviet avant-garde. It was built in 1927 according to the design of Konstantin Melnikov and Vladimir Shukhov for English Leyland buses. That is, the building itself puts the viewer in the right mood.
The Jewish Museum is the most technologically advanced in Moscow (interactive technologies, etc.). I’m sure Lissitzky the engineer would have liked it.
"Constructor". Self-portrait
According to Nikolai Khardzhiev, the impetus for the creation of this self-portrait was Michelangelo’s quote from Giorgio Vasari: “The compass should be in the eye, not in the hand, for the hand works, but the eye judges.” According to Vasari, Michelangelo “adhered to the same thing in architecture.”
Lissitzky considered the compass an essential tool for the modern artist. The motif of the compass as an attribute of the modern artistic thinking of the creator-designer repeatedly appeared in his works, serving as a metaphor for impeccable precision.
In his theoretical writings, he proclaimed a new type of artist “with a brush, a hammer and a compass in his hands,” creating the “City of the Commune.” In the article “Suprematism of World Building,” Lissitzky wrote:
“We, who have gone beyond the picture, have taken into our hands the plumb line of economy, the ruler and the compass, because the splattered brush does not correspond to our clarity, and, if we need it, we will take the machine into our hands, because to reveal creativity, both the brush and the ruler, and the compass, and the machine are only the last joint of my finger, drawing the path.”
Holy Trinity Church, Vitebsk, 1910
Paper, graphite pencil, gouache 30 x 37.7 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Vitebsk branch of Russian avant-garde
I've always had trouble with terminology. The huge number of -isms invented by art critics confused me. But if we assume that the first third of the 20th century is the era of the avant-garde (without delving further). You might be surprised how many artists of this era the Belarusian land produced. , Chagall (Vitebsk), Soutine (Smilovichi) and finally our hero, born at the Pochonok stop in the Smolensk region, but raised in Vitebsk.
Lissitzky and Soutine are now separated by a distance of literally two kilometers (an exhibition of Soutine is being held at Pushkinsky).
Probably, at the beginning of the 20th century there was a special air in Vitebsk: Chagall (who remained to live in Vitebsk in his paintings), Lissitzky, Repin (who had an estate near Vitebsk and worked there), and immediately after the revolution the landing party led by K. Malevich and M. Kerzin .
Organization of the exhibition
What struck me most was the entrance to the exhibition (see photo in the title of the note). A huge space, two walls (one black, formerly written “Lisitsky”, the other snow-white with raised letters “El”), formed a corner. There are two white inconspicuous doors in the white wall: entrance and exit. Very... constructivist :)
There are 4 halls allocated for the exhibition itself. The first graphic - I really liked the work with views of Italy (I had not seen them before). There are also illustrations and the book itself “Sihat Hulin” (“Prague Legend” 1917); R. Kipling “The Tale of the Curious Little Elephant” (in Yiddish) Berlin, 1922 - I got carried away, we’ll talk about book graphics separately. Sketches for painting the ceiling of the Mogilev synagogue.
Moishe Broderson. Prague legend. Moscow, 1917
State Tretyakov Gallery
The second room is graphics design. Characters from the opera "Victory over the Sun". An interesting advertisement for the Pelikan stationery company, which he produced to pay for his treatment.
The rest are allocated: to his famous “prouns”, to the magazine “USSR in Construction”, which he headed; photo experiments and design projects for international exhibitions.
I really liked that next to each book there is an iPad with the book downloaded into it, and you can flip through it and watch it in its entirety. Just great. Great option for book exhibitions, however, expensive.
You can take pictures. But the quality, taking into account the glass in all works, is average. Be sure to go yourself and see it live.
I would especially like to mention the excellent joint publication of the Jewish Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery, “El Lissitzky,” prepared for the exhibition. Made in the style of constructivism, with colored edges. Contains a lot of information (336 pages) and excellent printing (all exhibited works, many rare photographic materials). Costs 2500 rubles. - inexpensive for such a publication.
Lion. Zodiac sign. Copy of the ceiling painting of the Mogilev synagogue 1916
Paper, black chalk, watercolor 22 x 24.5 cm. Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Collection of Boris and Lisa Aronson Posthumous gift of Yards Kohen, Apheka, Israel
I have no goal of telling the biography of the artist (especially since I will give a chronology of his life in the second part). I have an ambiguous attitude towards his work. It's too different. As he himself wrote: "The path of creativity is invention". He is an engineer, his constancy is in diversity, in the synthesis of all kinds of techniques. In the field of book graphics, I consider the most ingenious edition: Mayakovsky, V. For voice / book designer El Lissitzky. Berlin: Gosizdat, 1923.
Avant-garde artists were captivated by the idea of the expansion of art into daily life. All these -isms (Suprematism, Constructivism, Neoplasticism) were transferred to design, theater, and book graphics. And this is definitely about Lissitzky. But there is another side.
He himself wrote: “Each state had its own David, who, depending on the need, could write the “Oath of the Horatii” today, and the “Coronation of Napoleon” tomorrow. David is missing today.". He spoke of Jacques-Louis David, a republican revolutionary who later became an imperial court artist. Apparently, he, the editor of the magazine “USSR in Construction,” saw himself this way.
Ravenna. 1913
Paper, graphite pencil, gouache, chalk 31.8 x 23.7 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Memories of Ravenna. 1914
Paper, engraving 33.9 x 36.6 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Pisa. 1913
Paper, sepia 24.9 x 32.5 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Preparation of firewood. Drawing for a calendar for November - December. Late 1910s
Paper, ink, whitewash, pen, brush, drawing tools 10.2 x 24.7 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery Gift of A. A. Sidorov in 1969
Proun. 1920–1921
Paper, graphite and black pencils, watercolor 24.35 x 22.1 cm. Russian state archive literature and art
“Remember, proletarians of communications, 1905”
Sketch version of a poster for the festive decoration of Vitebsk for the 15th anniversary of the 1905 revolution. 1919-1920. Paper, gouache, ink, graphite pencil 18.2 x 22.9 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery
Hit the whites with a red wedge. Poster. 1920
Paper, lithograph 53 x 70 cm. Russian State Library
They fly to the ground from afar. Building No. 2. 1922
Paper, lithograph 25.5 x 21 cm. Collection of Vladimir Tsarenkov
"New Man" Not dated
Parchment, graphite pencil, gouache 35 x 35.5 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Design (layout) for the play “I Want a Child.” Inscription inside: a healthy child is a future builder of communism
“To help party study.” Magazine cover layout 1927
Cardboard, graphite pencil, ink, gouache 26.55 x 18.1 cm. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art
Sketch for the cover of the magazine “Thing” 1922
Paper, collage, ink 31.3x23.5 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Constitution of the USSR. Poster 1937
Insert in the magazine “USSR under construction”, 1937. No. 9-12 To the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution Museum of the History of Jews in Russia
“Peace, peace at all costs! Reforge the swords! 1940
Paper, ink, pen 32 x 29.6 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery
El Lissitzky is an iconic figure of the Russian avant-garde, architect, artist, designer, first Russian graphic designer, master of photomontage, engineer. A supporter of Suprematism actively worked to transition this trend into the field of architecture, and his projects were several decades ahead of their time.
Architect against his will
Lazar Lisitsky was born on November 22, 1890 in the small village of Pochinok, Smolensk region, into a Jewish family. His father was an artisan entrepreneur, his mother a housewife. The family moved to Smolensk, where Lazar graduated from the Alexander Real School. Later they moved to Vitebsk, where the boy became interested in painting and began taking drawing lessons from the local artist Yudel Pan. By the way, he was also Marc Chagall’s teacher. In 1909, Lissitzky tried to enter the Art Academy in St. Petersburg, but at that time Jews were very rarely admitted to higher education institutions. Therefore, Lazar entered the Higher Polytechnic School in Darmstadt, Germany, from which he successfully graduated, receiving a diploma in architectural engineering. During his studies, he not only traveled a lot, but also managed to earn extra money as a mason. In 1914, Lissitzky defended his diploma, and when the First World War began world war, was forced to return to Russia in a roundabout way - through Switzerland, Italy and the Balkans. In 1915, he entered the Riga Polytechnic Institute, which was evacuated to Moscow during the war, and in 1918 received the title of architectural engineer. While still studying, Lissitsky began working as an assistant in Velikovsky’s architectural bureau.
Introduction to Suprematism
In 1916, Lissitzky began to take up painting in earnest. He participated in the work of the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts, in exhibitions in 1917, 1918 and 1920. In 1917, Lissitzky began illustrating books published in Yiddish, both for children and for adults, by contemporary Jewish authors. Actively working with graphics, he developed the emblem of the Kyiv publishing house Yiddisher Folks-Farlag. In 1919, he signed a contract with this publishing house to illustrate 11 books.
El Lissitzky. Hit the whites with a red wedge. 1920. Van Abbemuseum. Eindhoven, Netherlands
El Lissitzky. Geometric abstraction. Image: artchive.ru
El Lissitzky. Central Park of Culture and Leisure Vorobyovy Gory. Image: artchive.ru
In the same 1919, Marc Chagall, with whom Lissitzky had developed friendly relations, invited him to Vitebsk to teach graphics and architecture at the recently opened People's Art School. Yudel Pen and Kazimir Malevich came there, again at the invitation of Chagall. Malevich was a generator of innovative ideas in painting, and his concepts and enthusiasm were received coolly at the school. Chagall and his “tangle of like-minded people” were supporters of figurative painting, while the avant-garde artist Malevich at that time had already founded his own direction - Suprematism. Malevich's works delighted Lissitzky. At that time he was engaged in classical Jewish painting under the great influence of Chagall, therefore, despite his interest in Suprematism, Lissitzky tried to adhere to classical forms both in teaching and in his own work. Gradually, the educational institution of a small town turned into a battlefield between two areas of painting. Malevich propagated his ideas in a rather aggressive manner, and Chagall left the school.
“Prouns” and Suprematism in architecture
Lissitzky found himself between two fires and ultimately made his choice in favor of Suprematism, but introduced some innovations into it. First of all, he was an architect, not an artist, so he developed the concept of prouns - “projects for the approval of the new,” which assumed the release of planar Suprematism into volume. In his own words, it was supposed to be “a transfer station on the path from painting to architecture.” For Malevich, his creative concepts were a purely philosophical phenomenon, for Lissitzky - a practical one. His goal was to develop a city of the future, as functional as possible. Experimenting with the layout of buildings, he came up with the design for the famous horizontal skyscraper. Such a solution would allow us to obtain a maximum usable area with minimal supports - ideal option for the city center, where there is little space for development. The project was never translated into reality - like most of Lissitzky’s architectural plans. The only building built according to his drawings is the printing house of the Ogonyok magazine, erected in Moscow in 1932.
El Lissitzky. Proun "City" (the phenomenon of the square). 1921. Image: famous.totalarch.com
El Lissitzky. Proun. 1924. Image: famous.totalarch.com
El Lissitzky. Proun 19 D. 1922. Image: famous.totalarch.com
In 1920, Lazar took the pseudonym El Lissitzky. He taught, gave lectures at VKHUTEMAS, VKHUTEIN, took part in an expedition to the cities of Lithuania and the Dniester region, based on his impressions he published scientific work about Jewish decorative art: “Memories of the Mogilev Synagogue.” In 1923, Lissitzky published reproductions of the painting of a synagogue in Mogilev and created sketches for the design of the opera “Victory over the Sun,” which, however, was never staged. The talented graphic artist Lissitzky created several famous propaganda posters: in 1920, “Beat the Whites with a Red Wedge,” and many years later, during the Great Patriotic War, Patriotic War- the most famous - “Everything for the front, everything for victory.”
Since 1921, Lissitzky lived in Germany and Switzerland, in Holland, where he joined the Dutch association of artists “Style”, who worked in neo-plasticism.
Working at the intersection of graphics, architecture and engineering, Lissitzky developed radically new principles of exhibition, presenting the exhibition space as a single whole. In 1927, he designed the All-Union Printing Exhibition in Moscow according to new principles. In 1928–1929, he developed projects for a functional modern apartment with built-in transformable furniture.
El Lissitzky. Cover of the book “For the Voice” by Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1923. State. ed. RSFSR. Berlin
El Lissitzky. International magazine on contemporary art "Thing". 1922. Berlin. Image: famous.totalarch.com
El Lissitzky. Poster of the first Soviet exhibition in Switzerland. 1929. Image: famous.totalarch.com
Lissitzky was engaged in photography, one of his hobbies was photomontage: he created photo collages for the design of exhibitions, for example, the “Russian Exhibition” in Zurich, Switzerland.
Family and destiny
In 1927, El Lissitzky married Sophie Küppers. Her first husband was an art critic and director of the Center for Contemporary Art in Hanover, she was actively interested in contemporary art: Her collection of paintings included both Wassily Kandinsky and Marc Chagall. In 1922, Sophie was left a widow with two small children. At an exhibition in Berlin that same year, she first became acquainted with Lissitzky’s works, a little later they met personally and correspondence began. In 1927, Sophie moved to Moscow and married Lissitzky. The couple got and common child- son Boris.
In 1923, Lissitzky was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He did not know that he was seriously ill until he suffered from pneumonia. A few years later, his lung was removed, and until his death, the architect lived, devoting a huge amount of time and effort to treatment, and at the same time not stopping to work. Lazar Lissitzky died in 1941 at the age of 51. His family found themselves in a terrible situation during the war. One of Sophie's sons, Kurt, was in Germany at that time and was arrested as a Red and the stepson of a Jew. The second, Hans, was arrested in Moscow as a German. Kurt managed to survive the Nazi camps, while Hans died in Stalin's camps in the Urals. Sophie herself and Boris were deported to Novosibirsk in 1944. She managed to take with her documents, letters, drawings and paintings by El Lissitzky, and in the 1960s Sophie handed over the archive Tretyakov Gallery and published a book about her husband.
(1890-1941) worked in several fields of art. He was an architect, artist, book graphic artist, designer, theater decorator, photomontage artist, and exhibition designer. He made his contribution to each of these areas, entering the practice and history of the development of art in the first half of the 20th century. Lissitzky graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Higher Technical School in Darmstadt (1909-1914) and the Riga Polytechnic (1915-1918). Lissitzky’s versatility as an artist and his desire to work in several areas of art is not just a feature of his talent, but to a large extent a need of that era, when the features of modern aesthetic culture were formed in the interaction of various types of art. Lissitzky was one of those who stood at the origins of new architecture and with his creative and theoretical works had a significant influence on the formal and aesthetic searches of innovative architects.
Lazar Markovich (Mordukhovich) Lisitsky was born into the family of artisan-entrepreneur Mordukh Zalmanovich Lisitsky and housewife Sarah Leibovna Lisitskaya on November 10 (22), 1890 in the village. Pochinok Smolensk province. He graduated from a real school in Smolensk (1909). He studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Higher Polytechnic School in Darmstadt and at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, which was evacuated to Moscow during the First World War (1915-1916). He worked in the architectural bureau of Velikovsky and Klein.
Since 1916, he participated in the work of the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Arts, including in collective exhibitions of the society in 1917 and 1918 in Moscow and in 1920 in Kyiv. At the same time, in 1917, he began illustrating books published in Yiddish, including modern Jewish authors and works for children. Using traditional Jewish folk symbols, he created a stamp for the Kyiv publishing house “Yidisher Folks-Farlag” (Jewish folk publishing house), with which he signed a contract on April 22, 1919 to illustrate 11 books for children. During the same period (1916), Lissitzky took part in ethnographic trips to a number of cities and towns in the Belarusian Dnieper region and Lithuania with the aim of identifying and recording monuments of Jewish antiquity; The result of this trip was the reproductions of the paintings of the Mogilev synagogue at Shkolishche, published in Berlin in 1923, and the accompanying article in Yiddish “Memories of the Mogilev Synagogue”, the magazine “Milgroim” - the only theoretical work of the artist dedicated to Jewish decorative art.
In 1918, in Kyiv, Lissitzky became one of the founders of the Kultur League (Yiddish: League of Culture), an avant-garde artistic and literary association whose goal was to create a new Jewish national art. In 1919, at the invitation of Marc Chagall, he moved to Vitebsk, where he taught at the People's Art School (1919-1920).
In 1917-19, Lissitzky devoted himself to illustrating works of modern Jewish literature and especially children's poetry in Yiddish, becoming one of the founders of the avant-garde style in Jewish book illustration. In contrast to Chagall, who gravitated towards traditional Jewish art, from 1920 Lissitzky, under the influence of Malevich, turned to Suprematism. It is in this vein that later book illustrations the beginning of the 1920s, for example, to the books “Chiefs Map” (1922), poems by Mani Leib (1918-1922), Rabbi (1922) and others. It was to Lissitzky’s Berlin period that his last active work in Jewish book graphics dates back to (1922-1923). After returning to the Soviet Union, Lissitzky no longer turned to book graphics, including Jewish ones.
Since 1920 he performed under the artistic name “El Lissitzky”. He taught at the Moscow Vkhutemas (1921) and Vkhutein (since 1926); in 1920 he joined Inkhuk.
The formation of new architecture in the first years after the October Revolution took place in close interaction between architects and figures of the “left” fine arts. During these years, a complex process of crystallization of a new style took place, which occurred most intensively at the intersection of fine art and architecture.
Being an architect by training, Lissitzky was one of the first to understand the significance of the artistic search for “leftist” painting for the development of modern architecture. Working at the intersection of architecture and fine arts, he did a lot to transfer into the new architecture those formal and aesthetic findings that helped the formation of modern architecture. artistic culture. One of the active figures of the Vitebsk UNOVIS headed by K. Malevich, Lisitsky and in 1919 - 1921 created his PROUNs (projects for the approval of a new one) - axonometric images of geometric bodies of various shapes in equilibrium, either resting on a solid base, or as if floating in outer space .
In 1921-1925 he lived in Germany and Switzerland; joined the Dutch group "Style".
In his formal and aesthetic searches of those years, Lissitzky consciously relied on architecture, considering PROUNs as “transfer stations on the way from painting to architecture.” PROUNs represented one of the links in the process of passing the baton from left-wing painting to new architecture. These were original models of new architecture, architectonic experiments in the field of shape-formation, searches for new geometric-spatial concepts, some compositional “blanks” for future volumetric-spatial constructions. It is no coincidence that he gives some of his PROUNs such names as “city”, “bridge”, etc. Later, Lissitzky used some of his PROUNs when developing specific architectural projects (water station, horizontal skyscrapers, residential building, exhibition interiors, etc. .).
In the first years of Soviet power, Lissitzky also acted as a theorist, substantiating his understanding of the process of interaction between leftist movements in fine art and architecture. However, Lissitzky's role in this process of interaction was not limited to his creative and theoretical works. He takes an active part in such complex creative associations as UNOVIS, INKHUK and Vkhutemas. He was associated with the Bauhaus, with members of the Dutch group "De Stijl", with French artists and architects.
Lissitzky did a lot to promote the achievements of Soviet architecture abroad. In 1921-1925 he lived in Germany and was treated for tuberculosis in Switzerland. During these years, he established close relationships with many progressive Western artists, gave reports and articles on problems of architecture and art, and took an active part in the creation of new magazines (“Thing” - in Berlin, “ABC” - in Zurich).
Lissitzky's close attention to artistic problems formative development led him to a rapprochement with the rationalists and to joining ASNOVA. He was one of the editors and main authors of the issue “Izvestia ASNOVA” (1926), which was planned to be turned into a periodical. However, Lissitzky’s creative credo and theoretical views do not give reason to consider him an orthodox rationalist. Although in a number of his works he criticizes the desire to emphasize the functional and constructive expediency of a new architectural form, characteristic of constructivism (and functionalism), nevertheless, much in Lissitzky’s views brought him closer to constructivism. It can be said that Lissitzky’s creative credo turned out to be largely united by many features of rationalism and constructivism - these main innovative trends in Soviet architecture of the 20s, which largely complemented each other in matters of form-building. It is no coincidence that Lissitzky had close creative contact with both the theorist of rationalism N. Ladovsky and the theorist of constructivism M. Ginzburg. The rapprochement with the constructivists was facilitated by Lisitsky’s work as a professor at the woodworking and metalworking faculty of Vkhutemas, where, under his leadership, modern built-in furniture, transformable furniture, sectional furniture and individual elements of standard furniture were developed, many of which were intended for economical living cells.
A significant place in Lissitzky’s work in the first years of Soviet power was occupied by works related to propaganda art - the poster “Beat the Whites with a Red Wedge” (1919), “Lenin Tribune” (1920-1924), etc. In 1923, he completed sketches for the unrealized production of the opera "Victory over the Sun".
Lisitsky made a certain contribution to the development of the urban planning problem of vertical zoning of city development. The work of Soviet architects in this area differed significantly in those years from the projects foreign architects. It was proposed to build buildings raised on supports not over pedestrian paths, but over transport highways. Of the three main elements of vertical zoning - pedestrian, transport and development - preference was given to the pedestrian, changing whose position in the spatial planning structure of the city was considered inappropriate. The main reserves of vertical zoning were seen in the use of space for construction above transport highways. In the project of “horizontal skyscrapers” developed by Lissitzky for Moscow (1923-1925), it was proposed to erect (directly above the roadway of the city) eight similar buildings for central institutions in the form of horizontally elongated two-pieces at the intersections of the boulevard ring (Ring A) with the main radial transport highways. three-story buildings raised above the ground on three vertical supports housing elevators and stairs, with one support connecting the building directly to the metro station.
Lissitzky takes an active part in architectural competitions: House of Textiles in Moscow (1925), residential complexes in Ivanovo-Voznesensk (1926), House of Industry in Moscow (1930), Pravda plant. He designed a water station and stadium in Moscow (1925), a rural club (1934), and took an active part in the planning and design of the Park of Culture and Leisure named after. Gorky in Moscow, creates a project (not implemented) for the main pavilion of the Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow (1938), etc.
In 1930-1932, according to the design of El Lissitsky, the printing house of the Ogonyok magazine was built (house number 17 on 1st Samotechny Lane). Lissitzky's printing house is distinguished by an amazing combination of huge square and small round windows. The building's plan is similar to Lissitzky's sketch of a “horizontal skyscraper”.
Closely related to the development of modern interiors is Lissitzky’s work in the field of exhibition design, to which he introduced a number of fundamental innovations: design for the Soviet pavilion at the exhibition of decorative arts in Paris (1925), the All-Union Printing Exhibition in Moscow (1927), Soviet pavilions at the international press exhibition in Cologne (1928), at the international fur exhibition in Leipzig (1930) and at the international exhibition "Hygiene" in Dresden (1930).
Lissitzky’s theoretical and architectural works cannot be considered separately from other aspects of his creative activity. It was the complexity of Lissitzky’s artistic creativity that allowed him to play a significant role in the complex and controversial period of the early 20s, when new architecture and design were born in the process of interaction of various arts.
Lissitzky made a significant contribution to the development of new methods of graphic design of books (the book “Mayakovsky for Voice” - published in 1923, etc.), in the field of posters and photomontage. One of the best images of this area is the poster for the “Russian Exhibition” in Zurich (1929), where a cyclopean image of two heads, fused into a single whole, rises above the generalized architectural structures. Lissitzky made several propaganda posters in the spirit of Suprematism, for example, “Beat the Whites with a Red Wedge!”; developed transformable and built-in furniture in 1928-1929. He created new principles of exhibition exposition, perceiving it as an integral organism. An excellent example of this is the All-Union Printing Exhibition in Moscow (1927).
The fate of Lissitzky the theorist was such that most his works have been published abroad on German(in the 20s in articles in the magazines “Merz”, “ABC”, “G”, etc., in the book “Russia. Reconstruction of architecture in the Soviet Union” published in 1930 in Vienna) or remained in its time not published (some works were published in 1967 in the book “El Lissitzky” published in Dresden). Lissitzky’s theoretical statements taken together give an idea of him as one of the original representatives of Soviet architecture during the period of its formation.
Source: “Masters of Soviet architecture about architecture”, volume II, “Art”, Moscow, 1975. Compilation and notes: S.O. Khan-Magomedov
Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (El Lissitzky) is a famous Soviet artist and avant-garde artist. Known as one of the main artists who influenced the development of the Russian avant-garde, non-figurative art and Suprematism, in particular.
El Lissitzky, who also signed himself as Leizer Lissitzky and Eliezer Lissitzky, was born in 1890 in the village of Pochinok (Smolensk region). He studied at the Higher Polytechnic School and the Riga Polytechnic Institute at the faculties of architecture. He was a member of the avant-garde artistic community Kultur-League. I was familiar with and even at his invitation moved to live in Vitebsk for some time, where whole year taught at the People's Art School. In addition, he was a teacher at the Moscow Vkhutemas (Higher Art and Technical Workshops) and Vkhutein (Higher Art and Technical Institute). For some time he lived outside of Russia - in Germany and Switzerland. He also worked together with the development of the foundations and subtleties of Suprematism.
In addition to his paintings made in the style of Russian avant-garde and Suprematism, El Lissitzky is famous for his architectural developments. So, a series of his paintings "Prouns"(new art projects) subsequently became the basis for furniture designs, layouts, installations and so on. It is also worth saying that the printing house of the Ogonyok magazine was built according to the design of this particular artist and architect. In addition, he designed furniture, painted propaganda posters, and was interested in professional photography and photomontage. One of the most famous avant-garde artists of the Soviet Union died in 1941. He was buried in Moscow at the Donskoye Cemetery.
Artist El Lissitzky paintings
Here are two squares
Everything for the front! Everything for victory! (Let's have more tanks)
Illustration for the book by V. Mayakovsky
Hit the whites with a red wedge
New man
Magazine cover Thing
Project of horizontal skyscrapers for Moscow
