Constructivism

Constructivism flourished in Moscow, Russia after the Revolution in 1917. The Constructivists; El Lissitzky, Wassily Kandinsky, Kasimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin where highly influenced from the previous movements, Cubism and Futurism.

The movement rejected the idea of arts for arts’ sake. It favoured art as a social change that would serve the social purposes. The graphic design in the constructivism movement ranged from product packaging, logos, posters, book covers and advertisements.

El Lissitzky

A Russian designer, typographer, photographer and architect. He is mostly known for the propaganda graphics such as; posters, books and exhibitions.

El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge,1919

The red wedge represents the army which are beating the white circle. The use of sans serif typography with bold primary colours and basic shapes.

The diagonal line that’s dividing the image into two creates a certain balance in the composition due to the black against white. The red wedge that’s pointing at the centre of the circle creates a certain rhythm.

Alexander Rodchenko

A Russian artist, designer, sculpture and photographer. He was really influenced from the Russian revolution. Rodchenko’s graphics inspired others such as Jan Tschihold.

Russian Revolution Poster – Alexander Rodchenko

A well recognized poster of Rodchenko which has a stylized design using only few block colours, the use of lettering combined with the design itself was new for the time, so it was quite surprising that the message was still conveyed clearly in the advertisement.

Modern Posters inspired from the Constructivists (Lissitzky & Rodchenko);

References:

• David Britt, 2010. Modern Art: Impressionism to Post-Modernism. London. Thames & Hudson.
• Flask, D. 2013. Constructivism : Design Is History. [online] Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/constructivism/ [Accessed November 2013].