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Exploding Tongues: Language, Art, and the Russian Avant-garde

Kamenskii, Vasilli. Tango s korovami: Zheleznobetonnye poemy (Tango With Cows: Ferro-Concrete Poems), 1914

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(Hyper)cubism Non-Euclidean geometry is the term given to geometries which oppose Euclid's parallel postulate, that is, in opposition to the postulate: "through a given point can be drawn only one parallel to a given line." In such geometries infinitely many lines through a given point may be parallel to a given line, and similarly the sum of angles of a triangle will be less than 180 degrees. The idea of non-Euclidean geometry was first hypothesized in 1824 by Karl Gauss and more formally in 1829 by Nikolai Lobachevsky, and was further developed throughout the late 19th century and beyond. The geometry of higher dimensions (greater than three) was gradually developed in the following decades, and is far less unified in its formulation than non-Euclidean geometry. Algebraically, the notion of higher dimensional geometry is relatively straightforward: variables are simply added to the typical x, y, and z. Visualizing dimensions beyond the third, however, is much more complex. Often, properties of higher dimensions will be analogous to their more familiar counterparts: rotation about a line in the three dimensions is analogous to rotation about a plane in four dimensions, and a four dimensional hypercube is bounded by cubes just as a cube is bounded by squares. This applies to any conceivable three dimensional shape; four dimensional objects can be formed by boundaries of tetrahedrons, octahedrons, etc. Additionally just as three dimensional shapes take on different two dimensional representations based on viewpoint from the third dimension, four dimensional shapes take on different three dimensional representations based on viewpoint from the fourth dimension. Beyond these analogues, however, n-dimensional geometry was often ascribed philosophical and almost mystical properties. It was perhaps due to these strange properties that it, along with the concept of non-Euclidean geometry, became not only a scholarly but also a cultural and literary phenomenon in Europe during the late 19th century.

As the topics of n-dimensional and non-Euclidean geometry began to spread through the world - America and Russia in addition to Europe - certain aspects of these ideas were incorporated into artistic movements, including the then-developing Cubist theories. The "freedom" of geometries not constrained by convention or Euclid's three dimensions was particularly appealing to Cubist artists. The works of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, among others, exhibit elements of alternate geometries observable in several artistic movements. Farther East, Russian mathematicians and scholars wrote prolifically on the subject of non-Euclidean geometry. It was the idea of a fourth dimension, however, that caught on and spread throughout popular culture and appeared in many art forms of the Russian Avant-garde. The philosophical and mystical - in addition to mathematical - elements of a spatial fourth dimension as described by the writings of Peter Ouspensky were extremely influential to several artists and styles of this movement. Dubbed a "hyperspace philosopher," Ouspensky asserted that the concept of a fourth dimension must be approached psychologically as well as physically or geometrically. He argued that our inability to perceive dimensions above the third is a psychological barrier, that our perception of space is distorted, and that we "see everything as unlike what it really is." Ouspensky maintained that a higher spatial dimensionality is a basic characteristic of the fourth dimension, though his later descriptions suggest temporal properties as well. This spatial quality as well as the relation to human psychology and perception are perhaps the most notable aspects of the fourth dimension represented in Russian Avant-garde pieces. We can track the influence and appearance of the cultural phenomenon that is the fourth dimension as it spreads through the Russian Avant-garde: in Mikhail Larionov and Natalya Goncharova's Rayist paintings; in several of Kazimir Malevich's Futurist paintings and one of his earliest contributions to a Futurist book; in Vasily Kamensky's Futurist book "Tango With Cows", in El Lissitzky's "Prouns", sketches, and diagrams; and finally in various works of (unrealized) Russian fantasy architecture.

Rayism was a style of the Russian Avant-garde movement developed mainly by Larionov and Goncharova focusing on "intangible forms" and "immaterial objects" in space. These "intangible forms" were expressed in one of two ways: by light rays reflected from three dimensional objects as in Larionov's "Glass," or using general color masses and lines completely separated from concrete objects as in Goncharova's "Green and Blue Forest." The style exhibits notable parallels to the fourth dimension and in particular to the ideas of Charles Hinton - a British mathematician, science fiction author, and precursor to Ouspensky who drew upon Hinton's literature and ideas to develop many of his theories. Hinton described the process of constructing a fourth-dimensional hypercube as connecting a collection of three dimensional cubes with lines in "an unknown direction." The assemblage of these lines, he states, will constitute a solid of higher dimension. Similarly, in both Larionov's and Goncharova's pieces, the collection of rays - either emanating from an object or as a subject of their own - constitute the "intangible forms" and "immaterial objects" upon which the style is based. Rayism is obviously closely related to the geometry of the fourth dimension, and it is but one of many styles in the Russian Avant-garde with such influences. In countless pieces throughout the movement, in fact, the emanation of lines at odd angles and the fragmentation of space provide a striking visual connection to mathematical representations of the fourth dimension. While artists involved in the movement certainly developed distinct ideas as to how the fourth dimension was to be approached or represented, these stylistic elements appear quite consistently across their works.

Malevich's relationship with the fourth dimension was interesting and certainly quite varied. While he was quick to abandon the physical (mathematical) elements of the fourth dimension so prominent in his earlier pieces in favor of the simpler, more abstract style of Suprematism, several of its stylistic elements can still be observed in his Suprematist writings and pieces. Malevich's aforementioned contribution to the Futurist book "Vzorval" (Explodity) is titled "Death of a man simultaneously on an airplane and the railway" and is arguably one of the artist's most apparent ventures into the fourth dimension - both physically and philosophically. The piece distinctly contradicts the artistic convention of Alberti's method for perspective; shapes are warped and fragmented with no inference of three-dimensional perspective. The scene is chaotic; bits and pieces are recognizable, but are often themselves somewhat ambiguous. Malevich's work can be thought of as a collection of simultaneous spatial realities, connected by some imperceptible higher domain which provides our viewpoint. The shattered appearance of the piece could represent an attempt of the human consciousness to perceive these three dimensional spaces and the fourth dimensional connection between them, reminiscent of Ouspensky's psychological approach to understanding the fourth dimension.

The title lends itself to this interpretation with its literal meaning; there are at least two realities, one in which the man perishes on the plane and one in which he meets his fate on the railway. Additionally, in accordance the image, the title is oddly fragmented and cut short. Odnovremenno (simultaneously) is typically a single word, and zhel. doroge is an abbreviation of zheleznoi doroge (iron railway). The event itself is particularly notable when examined in relation to the basis of zaum, poetry of the Russian Avant-garde which was itself a divergence from verbal or linguistic representation. The image is made up of fragments of recognizable scenes - just as zaum is often formed from dissected, rearranged, altered recognizable words - which together form an experience transcending typical human comprehension. Like many works of zaum Malevich's piece evokes ideas of the familiar, but through distorted fragments of reality that prevent any single meaning from being assigned to them or the piece as a whole. The work thus takes on many - possibly infinitely many - interpretations, all existing simultaneously.

The sketch also exhibits several aesthetic similarities to Malevich's earlier oil-on-canvas paintings (in a style which he called Cubo-Futurism), which he produced directly following the publication of Ouspensky's "The Fourth Dimension" in 1909. Given Malevich's keen personal interest in the hyperspace philosopher's writings and ideas as well as the prevalence of the fourth dimension as a cultural phenomenon, his experimentation with related artistic principles between 1911 and 1914 - the budding years of the Russian Avant-garde - was to be expected.

Upon examining these qualities within the early pieces of the Russian Avant-garde and similar ones in later works such as Vasily Kamensky's "Tango With Cows" it is clear that certain elements of fourth-dimensionality persisted in bookmaking during the movement. Tango With Cows exhibits qualities seen in Malevich's Futurist sketch as well as qualities seen in Larionov and Goncharova's Rayist pieces, and is perhaps the best example of stylistic elements inspired by the fourth dimension arising in the intersection between visual and verbal art. Its verbal phrases are often nonsense, but take on multiple meanings when considering the physical division of words with the lines that fragment the page. On a separate page, lines extend from a passage in a strikingly Rayist fashion as well as dissect words and passages.

Malevich's experimentation with the mathematical and psychological ideas of the fourth dimension took a sharp turn shortly after his contribution to "Vzorval," however, as he began to more formally develop the style of Suprematism. Perhaps the highly geometrical fragmentation of the space represented by a blank medium was still too rooted in three-dimensional convention, or perhaps Ouspensky's condemnation of the Futurists' attempts at attaining the fourth dimension in 1914 prompted some change of heart. Regardless, the divergence is clear. Malevich's journey into the simplified geometric forms of Suprematism seems to utilize a different, less explicit expression of the fourth dimension, one linked to motion and color. At the 0.10 Last Futurist Exhibition in December 1915 Malevich displayed five works with titles referencing the mathematical concept, including "Painterly Realism of a Football Player-Color Masses in the Fourth Dimension." This piece, as well as the others in the exhibition, incorporates inferred motion of its shapes and seems to toy with the idea of motion in higher dimensions. The analogous explanation in two-dimensional space describes the motion of a cube made up of a stack of colored squares. As the cube moves through a two-dimensional plane, an observer in said plane would see a line which changes color. Thus, when observing the motion of a similar four-dimensional object through three-dimensional space, one would see planes of different colors.

As Malevich further developed the Suprematist style, his interest in the fourth dimension waned. More heavily referenced was a breaking-away from the earthly; the convention of orientation based on horizons and gravity. His fascination with the fourth dimension itself was usurped by that with heavenly bodies and infinite space as evidenced by his writings in December of 1920. While Malevich may have diverted his focus from the subject of the fourth dimension, a plethora of its visual aesthetics remained embedded in the Russian Avant-garde movement. This is observable in the work of El Lissitzky, who blended Malevich's use of geometric forms with his own background in engineering and architecture. His first works, collections of what he called "Prouns," depicted three-dimensional solids - in contrast to Malevich's Suprematist pieces. Lissitzky stated that these pieces "advance towards the construction of a new space, divide it by the elements of all dimensions, and construct a new, many-sided yet unified image of our nature." This description is quite conducive to physical representation with its mention of the construction of space, and indeed Lissitzky produced architectural designs based on similar principles throughout the 1920's. Lissitzky's work is perhaps the most tangible connection between the early visual art and the later fantasy architecture designs of the Russian Avant-garde, and with this link we can draw clear parallels between representations and aesthetics of the fourth dimension in each.

The Latvian photographer and Constructivist, Gustav Klutsis, worked side-by-side with El Lissitzky and produced many works of fantasy architecture and graphic design throughout the mid 1920's. His pieces were just a few of many in the movement, and elements of the fourth dimension included in his and El Lissitzky's work are observable in a plethora of architectural sketches - such as the set of designs for the Silicate Industry Pavilion - throughout the late 1920's and beyond. These designs, as well as Constructivism and contemporary Russian architecture in general, were more rooted in realism than previous styles in the Russian Avant-garde. As the movement developed, the lines splaying in "unknown directions" of Rayism and abstracted, free floating planes of Suprematism found little to no place in its very solid, orthogonal designs. The physical and more mathematical properties of the fourth dimension can certainly be observed in contemporary Russian art, but from the mid 1930's onward a decline in the use of stylistic - especially philosophical, psychological, and mystical - elements of the fourth dimension is clear.