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

Suprematist painting. Rectangle and Circle

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All's Well That Starts Well, It Never Ends
Russian avant-garde was a genre that picked up the revolutionary energy of the late 19th century and early 20th century, continuing until the Soviet state grew strict in their preference of Socialist Realism in the 1930s. Kasimir Malevich heavily influenced many artists between 1912 and the 1920s. His genre of Suprematism was a key aspect of the Russian avant-garde. Known for its simple geometric shapes, Suprematism hoped to portray pure artistic feeling rather than depict actual objects. Zaum poetry hoped to do the same. By taking pure sound and abstracted words, the writers of Zaum discarded meaning for poetry based in feeling.

Nina Gurianova, in The Aesthetics of Anarchy, makes a clear distinction between early Soviet Avant-garde and Constructivism. 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.

Circles are a shape that held prominence throughout the Russian avant-garde. Their appearance is seen in the early era mostly through Malevich and in the Constructivist era through artists such as Aleksandr Rodchenko, El Lissitizky, Gustav Klutsis, and more. However, what does the circle represent? Is it an abstract representation of an object? Or is it meant to merely represent an idea?

Anarchism, Counter-Hegemony, and the Early Russian Avant-garde 1912-1917

The Aesthetics of Anarchy, as described by Nina Gurianova, capture a mood of alogism. In other words, the early Russian avant-garde can be defined by their nihilistic lack of meaning. In this lack of meaning, they hoped to challenge the boundaries of what art can be. They had no desire to reinstate a program of rules surrounding art, rather they wanted to break away from any set of ideas of what their art should be. Gurianova, when writing about the subgenres of the early Russian avant-garde, states "There is only one feature that can be applied equally to all of them: an anti-teleological desire for freedom of artistic conscience, not limited by any pragmatic political, social, or aesthetic goals." Thus, the early avant-garde era was counter-hegemonic. Hegemony can be defined as an influence or dominance over a population. This dominance is maintained by asserting a set of ideologies which the population adheres to, making any resistance to societal norms counter-hegemonic.

An example of this early period is Victory over the Sun, an opera performed in 1913. It is said to be one of the main influences of Malevich's Suprematism, making it a key point of the early avant-garde era. The title refers to the authors' desire to overcome the artistic norms of the time, symbolized in taking over the sun. Malevich and Matiushin, two main contributors to the opera, were quoted saying:
“The meaning of the opera has to do with the overthrow of one of the great artistic values--in this particular case, the sun … The Futurists want to free themselves from this ordered quality of the world, from the connections thought to exist in it. They want to transform the world into chaos, to smash the established values to pieces and from those pieces create new values by making new generalizations and discovering new, unexpected, and invisible connections. Take the sun--this is a former value--it therefore constrains them, and they want to overthrow it.”
The circle, if it symbolizes the sun, represents something to be overthrown. The sun, an object which everything revolves around, must be taken over in order to free the world from hegemony. Thus, the circle is a representation of hegemony. However, their desire to take the pieces of the world and create new values illuminates the cyclical nature of counter-hegemony.

The set of Victory over the Sun helped to confuse the audience, thus furthering the agenda of disrupting cultural norms. Gurianova writes:
"Malevich and Kruchenykh’s intention was to manipulate spotlights from the stage projectors in order to make the backdrops look three-dimensional: ‘The ambiguity of the spatial relationship, especially in perception of depth, undoubtedly was increased by the ‘tunnel effect’ created by the receding centers of the backdrops’ … This metaphor of infinity in the opera embodies the quest to destroy the old for the sake of creating anew, which ‘inspired shock in some minds and liberated others’”

A spotlight, a tunnel, a black hole in which things fall into or out of, all of these are ways in which the circle can obscure dimensionality. The fourth dimension and the challenging of spatial relations were important to the Futurists, and the circle was one tool with which to do that. This can be seen not only in the set for Victory over the Sun but in Malevich's Suprematist paintings as well. Due to the fact that the circles in his paintings are not just circular lines, but actually filled in shapes, they provoke questions of dimension. Are you looking into a hole? Through a tunnel?

Victory over the Sun also helped inspire the abstraction of Suprematism. Gurianova writes, “The next step in the development of this painterly construction is the transformation of the ‘anatomical structures’ of things into abstract shapes.”

Circles and Zaum

The aesthetics of anarchy are present in the alogism of zaum. Those that were writing zaum poetry wanted to escape from the communicative function of language and focus on its purely aesthetic values. Thus, this poetry consisted of sounds and made up words. Both accidental and deliberate errors could be seen throughout the art.

The connection between circles and zaum can be seen in the fact that zaum is an abstraction of language.
Shklovsky claims that "transrational language is a language of pre-inspiration, the rustling chaos of poetry, pre-book, pre-word chaos out of which everything is born and into which everything disappears.” This notion is reminiscent of the circle as a hole which distorts dimensionality, into which things are able to fall. Additionally, the chaos of being born and then disappearing is a cycle which can thus be represented by the circle.

“A Futurist book became a true paradox: a material form to capture chaotic flux, immediacy, spontaneity -- all the immaterial, ephemeral elements of life.” In other words, the Futurist book was a perfect way to express their desire for a counter-hegemonic art form.

Constructivism and Marxist Hegemony 1918-1925

Once the revolution happened there became a need to reinstate a new hegemony. In the art world, this began with Constructivism. As Gurianova puts it, "The anarchic nihilism of alogism yielded to a quest for the assertion of the universal.” Constructivism became a means to promote industrialization. For Rodchenko, this means that his circles were created with a mechanical tool, a compass. Unlike Malevich, his circles were not filled in. Rather, they were simple lines, as if part of a diagram. In fact, he did a drawing of a "perpetual motion machine" whose motion results in the shape of a circle. Another example of the utility of Constructivism is the fact that Rodchenko made several textile designs. In the propaganda art of Klutsis and Lissitzky, circles often appeared as the planet earth. This indicates the desire to spread Marxism internationally as a new hegemony that takes over the world.

Conclusion

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 or be used to subvert dimensionality. While for Lissitzky or Klutsis, it may appear as a planet. For Rodchenko, it may be symbolic of the mechanical nature of Constructivism. In other places, it may merely be a 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. A rapidly changing world, a world constantly in chaos and in flux, will never stay the same for long. What was once counter-hegemonic may rapidly transform into a new hegemony. The circle, not just a tool for subverting dimensionality or an example of the mechanical nature of Constructivism, is a symbol of the cyclical nature of the world we live in.
Orientation (Proper) How do you see a painting?
Not all paintings are meant to be viewed with the goal of finding a meaning. This emphasis on ambiguous abstraction was one that was prevalent during the Russian Avant-garde movement, including Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist works of the mid 1900s. However, when presented with a painting, viewers will still often attempt to restructure the painting in terms that are more accessible for them such as images that they may see in the work so they can formulate an interpretation they are comfortable with. Perhaps this is something they can clearly point out, or it may be more difficult for them to articulate, but they at the very least try to garner some kind of interpretation. However, this interpretation is subject to differentiation based upon the orientation of the piece. Oftentimes, a single orientation is considered the "proper" orientation, but this restricts the reader to a limited number of possible interpretations when, in reality, there may be numerous other possibilities. This is especially true in Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist works of the mid 1910s. Upon first glance, the majority of Malevich's Suprematist paintings appear to be an incoherent jumble of shapes and colors, but regardless, a viewer would still be able to look at a piece such as Suprematism - 1915 and come to some kind of conclusion. This conclusion is not complete, however, because the viewer was looking at the painting not the right side up. In fact, it is impossible to do so because there is no single correct orientation. Each turn of the piece changes it and together, these different interpretations paint a complete story, a visual poem. This emphasis on looking past a single orientation allows the viewer to see the painting as an active story that gives a piece of the plot with each vital rotation. After completely exploring these differing orientations, a story comes into focus. This is the only way any of Malevich's pieces such as his self-portrait can be fully enjoyed. Malevich's experimentation with visual poems in the form of paintings can be traced back to the early Russian Futurist poets and their experiments textually altering and manipulating their poems so that they are read differently. Malevich employs similar methods, but he focuses on a completely visual translation without any basis in sounds or text.

Orientation (Which one)?
Observing a painting is a fairly simple process in that the steps are to see it and then to observe it, in that order. However, Malevich's Suprematist works redefined the process and even lengthened it. Now, it is see it, observe it, turn it, see it, observe it, repeat twice more, and then observe the entire thing, now with a more complete knowledge of the painting. For some paintings, especially the more simple ones, this may seem not necessary as the viewer may immediately recognize something that they feel doesn't require further elaboration. For instance, look at Suprematist Painting. Rectangle and Circle. It is a fairly obvious work in that the majority of its viewers may immediately recognize the appearance of a person, no manipulation of the artwork necessary. The circle represents the head, the rectangle represents the torso, and together one could draw a conclusion. For example, this could be seen as a purposefully simplistic representation of a person with the intention to highlight how simple people are when stripped of all else but their shape. However, now look at the same painting, but tilted to the right 90 degrees. Now, look at it when it is tilted to the left 90 degrees. These orientations of the same painting present a completely different image that directly affects the portrayal of the original, upright orientation. Looking at these two examples, interpretations will not be as easy or intuitive to find as the human figure. However, looking at the painting tilted to the right, a knife can be seen with a large rectangular blade and a connected hand with an off canvass arm. Furthermore, the painting tilted to the left can appear to be a gun. Both of these interpretations are not necessarily the right ones and most definitely not the only ones, but their violent nature completely change the originally proposed meaning of the first orientation. Now, instead of being a painting about the simplicity of the human form and how we are all a torso and a head, it instead preaches a story of how easily humanity can tilt off balance and turn to violence against each other.

Turn-Per-View
Suprematist Painting. Rectangle and Circle is a good example of how adjusting the orientation gives more pieces of what first appears to be a simplistic story or available interpretation. The story of this painting is enhanced and revealed as originally incomplete. However, with some paintings, such as Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying, any interpretation requires much more work as there is ostensibly no figure, or any shape at all. The title suggests that there should be a Sudden Airplane, but upon looking at the piece after flipping it 180 degrees or "upside down", suddenly there is an image of a person that can be seen carrying a stack of boxes. The figure is more abstract in that it is not the shape of a complete person, but only the top half. However, it is more complete than anything that may have been gleaned from the initial orientation offered of the painting.

Another, and perhaps an even more abstract example, is Malevich's painting Suprematist Painting. Eight Red Rectangles. Looking at this painting, there are many, many possible interpretations and generally everyone will see something unique in their observation. If the two long red rectangles on the left side are seen as lips, the upper block as a nose, and the lower block as a chin, then the smaller rectangles could possibly be interpreted as words escaping from the lips, or perhaps they are blood red bullets and the long skinny rectangles are the barrel of a gun. The point is, there is not a single correct viewing of this painting and the infinite number of ways to view it are doubled when the painting is looked at upside down. Now looking at this orientation of the painting, there are even more possible interpretations that can be taken from the arrangement of these rectangles. Perhaps it is a cruise ship, perhaps it is a cocked gun, or it could possibly even be seen as a hand performing a rude gesture. Regardless of what one sees, if they were presented with the second orientation and told it was the "correct" one, they would not question it because it is, in the end, just as alien of a painting in that orientation as it is in the first one. In fact, in order to prove my point, I introduced the two orientations in the wrong order. The second one is actually the orientation the painting is normally presented in while the first one is the "upside down" view. The ambiguity of this painting and these two orientations highlights how neither one is necessarily "better" or more correct of a way to view the painting than the other.

Visual poetry when it was just poetry
Before Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist paintings, Futurist poets in Russia experimented with implementing visual elements into their poetry and making the act of reading more active of a process than simply reading words on a page. They accomplished this through such techniques as altering: the font size, the appearance of the letters themselves, kerning (in typography, the spacing between letters), the material that their books of poetry were made from, and the orientation and direction that the words were printed in. This last technique is the most relevant to our discussion as it shows, similar to Malevich's Suprematist works, a prerequisite task for the reader to change the orientation of the piece they are reading before they may fully appreciate it. For instance, Mayakovsky's book For the Voice includes several examples of text being written sideways and forcing the reader to turn the book to be able to read it. These examples of a singular, proper orientation being disregarded in textual poetry directly relate to the lack of a single orientation in Suprematist paintings and the idea that these paintings are not just a visual piece to view, but are in reality a visual poem expressed purely through images instead of with the textual support of words.

Closing
Ultimately, Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist paintings are a medium for storytelling. This is why any concerns of the necessity of a proper orientation must be disregarded when examining a Suprematist painting. Each of these stories employs a different panel of the story depending on how the painting is being viewed. The combination of these four representations into a single, holistic interpreation allows a greater understanding of the work as opposed to the more narrow interpretations that are possible form a viewing limited to a single orientation. Such restrictions cut short the plethora of possible meanings that are opened up to the viewer and give but a portion of what is available.
The Sudden Figure A common element in Kazimir Malevich's suprematist works is an ambiguity of proper orientation. This ambiguity allows for multiple different images to become apparent based on the perspective used in observing the work. One image that can be recognized in Malevich's works is the appearance of the human figure. This figure, "the Sudden Figure", is sometimes evident in the "correct" or accepted orientation of a painting, such as is the case with Malevich's Suprematist painting. Rectangle and Circle or Painterly Realism of a Football Player - Color Masses in the 4th Dimension.

In the case of Suprematist painting. Rectangle and Circle, the Sudden Figure is sudden in that it is fairly easy to recognize in the simplicity of the work itself. The orientation does not need to be shifted. The circle represents the head and the rectangle represents the torso. Together, they create the image of a figure gazing down, suggesting a solemn mood to the piece. This somber atmosphere is accentuated by the slight tilt in the rectangle.

The figure in Painterly Realism of a Football Player - Color Masses in the 4th Dimension is a little more difficult to recognize, but its existence is revealed in the very title of the piece. The confirmation of its existence makes the search for the figure a little easier. Looking at the painting, the large black shape at the top can represent the head while the yellow object can represent the torso. This is evident just from their relation to each other and its similarity to the shape of a body. The other shapes are less clear, but with the hint that this figure is a football player, then one can observe the long bar connected to the block and see that this painting is capturing an act of motion in the middle of its execution. As the bar swings down, the large block knocks into the next smaller block which rights it and causes it to knock into the red block which rights it and causes it to knock into red bar which swings into the ball. All together, this represents the leg of a football player kicking the ball and just as the human leg is made up of many different parts, so is Malevich's suprematist interpretation of a leg.

With some of Malevich's paintings, it is more difficult to see the Sudden Figure and its sudden explosion to life requires a manipulating of the work, specifically manipulating the orientation. At first glance, Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying has no figure, or any shape at all. The title suggests that there should be a Sudden Airplane, but upon looking at the piece "upside down" (but not truly upside down, because that would imply that there is a single "correct" orientation) the Sudden Figure can be seen carrying a stack of boxes. The figure is more abstract in that it is not the shape of a complete person, but only the top half. However, it is more complete than other examples in that it is composed of more parts rather than a simple "head" and "torso".

These are just a few examples of the inclusion of a common image in Malevich's works, the Sudden Figure being just one possible example. When the viewer actively searches for these common images, elements of the painting that may have once appeared random or insignificant take on new meanings and allow for more complete interpretations.