Exploding Tongues: Language, Art, and the Russian Avant-gardeMain MenuBack to Futurism: Russian Artist BooksIntroductory Page by Chris GilmanBookENDS: 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 PracticeBook Case StudiesCollaborative Research by Case StudiesBig Bang: Timeline of Russian Avant-Garde Book Arts and Their Cultural ImpactsA Timeline of Russian Avant-Garde Book Arts and Their Cultural ImpactsCoaRse CaLIBrationARTS 227 "Introduction to Letterpress Printing" (Pedersen) and CSLC134/RUSN334 "Exploding Tongues" (Gilman)NthOlogyA limited edition collaborative book arts project by students of ARTS 227 (Pedersen) and CSLC 134/RUSN 334 (Gilman), Spring, '17MANIFESTERS (AB & Kelly): A portfolio of process and productsAppendix: A Path Through Russian Avant-Garde BooksChristopher Gilman1985b99a2acd541caa12a10c3ebf6896565283abDexter Blackwell92e005ca94195f836c6089cf147faff4c74fa79eZoe Foster-La Duc1c8954189fb3ee4ab6e36bfb90fae86777eab97Stephen Heim7069d17c035042745c96bc6c7619096cd7b33da4Kelly Kirklande1805e502570d093d70f00df18f145c99290d0a3Ian Lehineb028c384a69e4b92166e7791b002fa3f2cee5818Timothy Lewis13880d3d99b4b71ce85be63e69a6d44e38853d68Jmedina29ac3fc10003fb639ac412984b59b01a5b826e161Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659afEvan Sarafian042e10782d9a6d3f0001a4b35abb02f58ad84684Craig Dietrich2d66800a3e5a1eaee3a9ca2f91f391c8a6893490ILiADS (Institute for Liberal Arts Digital Scholarship)
A Proun and Proun 99
12017-02-22T14:42:38-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659af120413A Proun (left) 1925 and Proun 99 (right) 1924, El Lissitskyplain2017-03-01T13:51:16-08:001924-1925El LissitzkyTaylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659af
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12017-02-24T14:23:27-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659afCurvilinearityTaylor Robinson2Annotation by Taylor Robinsonplain2017-02-24T14:25:03-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659af
12017-02-24T14:21:56-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659af3D GridTaylor Robinson2Annotation by Taylor Robinsonplain2017-02-24T14:25:04-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659af
12017-02-24T14:25:40-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659afSame unit, different contextTaylor Robinson2Annotation by Taylor Robinsonplain2017-02-24T14:28:49-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659af
12017-02-24T14:20:08-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659afThree-dimensionality from two-dimensional shapesTaylor Robinson2Annotation by Taylor Robinsonplain2017-02-24T14:21:36-08:00Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659af
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12017-02-23T16:48:22-08:00El Lissitzky's Prouns as visual language47Taylor Robinsontimeline2017-03-01T14:26:52-08:00El Lessitzky’s Prouns build upon the idea of reorienting language into a system of visual signs. This means, if we compare the pieces of Lessitzky’s art and look at the patterns that emerge, we can start to develop a system of signs not so dissimilar to that in language, a vocabulary of abstract shape. As Lessitzky’s career developed, these patterns became more and more explicit and their meanings became more accessible to a wider audience, finally culminating in his propaganda work, in which he used explicit language in order to transmit to the largest possible audience a desired message.
The photograph of an anonymous hand in Lessitzky's "Untitled piece" is seen often throughout his work, and this very picture is implemented in many different ways and in many different pieces. It is possible look at the hand and see the hand of a worker, of a proletarian, connecting the art to the masses. However, the use of a photograph at all is perhaps more noteworthy, further situating the art in the "real world." The hand is also holding a compass, an architectural tool, which calls attention to the architect (being synonymous with "the artist" in the context of constructivism) as a subject. The compass is a tool that serves as a connection between the hand of the architect and the drawn line on the page. It blurs the line between the "real world” outside of the art (the photograph) and the world within the art. This proposes the possibility of art as having social utility or purpose, a major tenant of the constructivist ideology, a movement to which Lessitzky contributed much.
As contrasted with the linear features of Malevich’s suprematist works, another common feature of Lessitzky's work is the presence of very precise curvilinear lines. These curvilinear lines are present in most of Lessitzky's Prouns and remained an important piece throughout the rest of his career. We can see these lines in some of his most famous Prouns, such as "A Proun" (left) and "Proun 99" (right), which coincidentally uses the same shape in "Proun 99" and reutilizes it situating it by itself and establishing "A Proun" as a unit in this visual language. Also of note, are the two curvilinear lines present in "A Proun." These lines can also be thought of as units in Lessitzky's language since lines like these are repeated in multiple pieces, albeit their specific shape/orientation differs. Another notable implementation is in "Proun Vrashchenie" and "Proun 12." In this piece, again, the line is the central feature orienting the rest of the individual parts, stringing seemingly separate units together into a cohesive whole. The extreme precision of the lines implies that they were drawn almost mechanically, which is something that the untitled piece in particular lays bare. This fits with the idea that Lessitzky’s work became more explicit as his career advanced.
Another feature of relative significance can be seen in "Proun Vrashchenie," the central pointed shape penetrating the black oval towards the "top" (there isn't one 'correct' orientation). This combination of shapes, a wedge penetrating a circle, is seen elsewhere is both the work of Lessitzky and of Malevich. For example, in Lessitzky's "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge" and in Malevich's "Black Rectangle, Blue Triangle." This structure suggests an aggressive and penetrative act. The fact that this is seen from Kruchenykh and Larionov's experimental publications all the way back in 1913-1914, to Malevich's suprematist works, to Lessitzky's Prouns in the 1920's shows us that this particular visual language unit is of specific significance.
Returning to the examples of "a proun" and "proun 99," the curvilinear lines seem to spring out of a grid into three dimensional space, playing with the idea of two-dimensionality in three dimensional space. They add a cohesion to the whole by tying the cube (made of two dimensional shapes) to the three-dimensional grid. In "Proun Vrashchenie" we see this as well. In both of these examples, Lessitzky is adding three-dimensionality to the previously two dimensional nature of earlier suprematist art, situating the art in three dimensional, physical space. The "real-world" physicality of this art is probably best represented in "Proun 1 A, Bridge I." In this piece Lessitzky titles it with the word "bridge," leading us to look at it as a bridge. While the shapes are still abstract, the three-dimensionality and cohesive structure in conjunction with the title, give the impression of real world architecture. This led to Lessitzky’s involvement in the constructivist movement in which he designed buildings and architecture actually intended to be built, representing a further progression towards the concept of art with a social function.