Exploding Tongues: Language, Art, and the Russian Avant-garde Main Menu Back to Futurism: Russian Artist Books Introductory Page by Chris Gilman BookENDS: A Working Theory of Textuality as Cultural Dominant, 1912- An Introduction and Conclusion to a Semester's Investigation into the Book Arts as an Avant-garde Practice Book Case Studies Collaborative Research by Case Studies Big Bang: Timeline of Russian Avant-Garde Book Arts and Their Cultural Impacts A Timeline of Russian Avant-Garde Book Arts and Their Cultural Impacts CoaRse CaLIBration ARTS 227 "Introduction to Letterpress Printing" (Pedersen) and CSLC134/RUSN334 "Exploding Tongues" (Gilman) NthOlogy A limited edition collaborative book arts project by students of ARTS 227 (Pedersen) and CSLC 134/RUSN 334 (Gilman), Spring, '17 MANIFESTERS (AB & Kelly): A portfolio of process and products Appendix: A Path Through Russian Avant-Garde Books ILiADS (Institute for Liberal Arts Digital Scholarship)

All's Well That Starts Well, It Never Ends

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Following the appearance of the circle from Malevich to Lissitzky and Klutsis, there seems to be significant meaning being placed in this shape. In Malevich's work, it may stand in as a symbol for the sun. While for Lissitzky or Klutsis, it may appear as a planet. In other places, it may merely be a circle. By tracing it chronologically I hope to find a common connection in the use of the circle. As a shape that may be turned infinitely without change, it is also a symbol of free rotation. The ability to rotate a shape 360 degrees challenges our linear, left to right, top to bottom process of viewing and reading. This challenging of a hegemonic process, mixed with the later use of the circle in propaganda, calls to question the counter-hegemonic aspects of the circle. While the notion of free rotation might suggest counter-hegemony, the usage of the circle to represent the entire planet in Soviet propaganda suggests a reinstatement of a new hegemony. 

Nina Gurianova, in The Aesthetics of Anarchy, makes a clear distinction between early Soviet Avant-garde and post-revolution avant-garde. She claims that the early avant-garde is an autonomous era with little connection to the Constructivism of the post-revolution era. This distinction is important, however, we cannot completely separate the two, even just for the reason that many key actors of both periods overlap. For example, many Constructivists were students of Malevich, and some Suprematists themselves evolved from Suprematism to Constructivism. 

Anarchism, Counter-Hegemony, and the Early Russian Avant-garde 1912-1917​​Circles and Zaum
Constructivism and Marxist Hegemony 1918-1925


Vesnin

Stenberg

Klutsis

Klutsis

Malevich

Rodchenko

Rodchenko

Rodchenko

Rodchenko

Rodchenko

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