Constructivism

Constructivism was the final and most important contemporary Russian avant-garde art movement which began two years before Suprematism. The Constructivists believed that art should be useful, not just hung on a wall. The leaders of Constructivism were Vladimir Tatlin, El Lissitzky, Naum Gabo and Aleksander Rodchenko. Constructivists artists adopted ideas from Cubism, Suprematism and Futurism, but was completely a fresh perspective to making articles and substituting it with 'construction.' Constructivism required a cautious technical evaluation of progressive materials. The goal of most Constructivists was to take art to the people, in the factory and on the collective farms. Others  continuously persisted on the appreciation of abstract, analytical work and the importance of art.

Constructivists suggested to substitute art's customary related with composition with the center of attention on construction. Articles were invented not to demonstrate beauty or the artist's perspective but to carry out basic analysis of the materials and forms of art, one which might lead to the design of functional objects. The shape an artist’s work would require, would be domineered by its substances. Constructivists were to be builders of a recent community.

Design for the Monument to the Third International (1919-1920) by Vladimir Tatlin

Model of Tatlin's Tower in the courtyard of the Royal Academy, London

Monument to the Third International, frequently known just as Tatlin's Tower, is the artist's most prominent work. The Tower, which was never accomplished completely, was meant to act as a fully functional conference space, executive headquarters, communications, media and propaganda center for the Communist Third International. The model of this amazing structure, looks like a cross between the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a steel spiral frame or helix. The tower was to include three glass rotating building-size units, a cube, cylinder and cone that rotate once per year, month, and day, respectively. Tatlin also planned to mount a huge projector inside the cylinder that would beam messages into the sky, with the clouds serving as projector screens. For Tatlin, steel and glass were the essential materials of modern construction. They symbolized industry, technology and the machine age, and the continous movement of the geometrically shaped units embodied the dynamism of modernity.

Constructivist Head No.1 by Naum Gabo (1915)

Constructivist Head No.1

Gabo’s sculptures are called kinetic art because they suggest motion and the passage of time. The interplay of curves in Gabo’s sculpture creates a sense of dynamic motion and energy. Gabo’s loyalty to modernism, is demonstrated in his selection of materials, which frequently lent his shapes the quality of a machine.

His Constructivist Head No.1 is a female bust created from intermeshing planes and negative area. The woman’s curving shoulders and long, smooth neck produce a feeling of vitality as they were involved directly with each other and the areas they cut out. Gabo constructed the head from plywood. He was eventually further noteworthy outside Russia, bringing Constructivist objectives to Germany, France, England, and ultimately the United States.

Constructivist structures from the 1920s still spot the concurrent Russian landscape, regretful reminders of a visualized future that never came to progress.

The movement's genuine bequest, comprises not so much in the particulars of what was literally constructed and designed during the 1920s, but in the world of dreams: the manifestos, theories, blueprints and plans they left behind, unrealised.

CMA CGM Headquarters in Marseille, France designed by Zaha Hadid (2005-2010)

CMA CGM Headquarters

Inspired by Constructivism, Zaha Hadid designed the building sloping upward in a metallic bending curve that steadily raises and rises toward the sky into the striking upright geometry of its dramatically changing shapes.

References

Research:

Jesse Bryant Wilder (2007). Art History For Dummies. New Jersey- John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Content compiled and written by Tracee Ng. Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors."Constructivism Movement Overview and Analysis". [Online]. 2017. TheArtStory.org . Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-constructivism.htm [Accessed 12 March 2017].

Creative Bloq Staff (11 October 2013). "The easy guide to design movements: Constructivism". Creative Bloq. [online] Creativebloq.com. Available at: http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/easy-guide-design-movements-constructivism-10134843 [Accessed 12 March 2017].

Zaha-hadid.com . "CMA CGM Headquarters". Zaha Hadid Architects. [online] Available at: http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/cma-cgm-headquarters/ [Accessed 12 March 2017].

Images:

TobyJ (27 February 2012). "Model of Tatlin's Tower in the courtyard of the Royal Academy, London.". Wikipedia.[online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatlin%27s_Tower#/media/File:Model_of_Tatlin_Tower,_Royal_Academy,_London,_27_Feb_2012.jpg [Accessed 12 March 2017].

Serena Philomela. "Constructivist Head No.1". flickr.[online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/serenaphilomela/5002717/sizes/m/ [Accessed 12 March 2017].

Zaha-hadid.com . "CMA CGM Headquarters". Zaha Hadid Architects. [online] Available at: http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/cma-cgm-headquarters/ [Accessed 12 March 2017].