Battleship Aurora - New Dawn
November 1917
Bolsheviks laying siege to winter palace
Revolution is sealed.
LENIN takes Russia under communist control under the slogan of "peace, bread & land".
Supposed to be more democratic, the peoples country. With equality being the main aim, reducing the gap between the rich and the poor. Equally shared wealth.
Own land
Own food
Own space
Own voice
U.S.S.R.
Sergei Eisenstein- radical film maker.
October.
Lots of symbolism in this film relating to the revolution.
Images of Christ, symbolic of a ressurection or new life.
Stealing things
Waving weapons- symbol of victory
Man climbing gate - puts foot on crown... want a workers society.
Shows passing of time
Decrees.
Boy on throne, symbolising a new dawn,
Wine - decadence
Don't believe in god - thought that he was ideology to make people work.
KUSTODIEV- The Bolshevik
Propaganda
fuedal- pre revolution.
Cultural/financial division.
60% illiterate so had to work visually and simply.
Bolshevik leader is dressed like every man, worker.
is large because trying to convey collective strength/might
Amount of white in the image possibly linked to counter-revolutionaries.
Red flag connotes communism.
represents the blood of slain workers in the fight for the revolution.
for the MARTYRED WORKERS.
1917- mid 1920s intense artistic experimentation.
Trying to create an entirely new aestheti.
art was a symbol of power, so Bolsheviks changed it.
Radical INDUSTRIALIST aesthetic.
tryin to make the work appear better,
This new aesthetic was quickly abolished when Lenin died, and Stalin took his place.
It was too progressive.
Back to SOCIALIST REALISM.
There was no private art market in Russia.
Stalin encouraged European modernists such as Picasso and Matisse however Stalin deemed them dangerous.
1917-1924 was a period of more aesthetic development then anywhere else ever before. Almost overnight Lenin overthrew the old.
Malevich & Suprematism
New aesthetic for a new world
Geometric. Not like any other art, classically modernist.
El Lissitzky - 'Beat the whites with the red wedge'
Red wedge conotes Bolsheviks.
Spearhead of cultural revolution - power of revolutionaries against the weakness of the white army. old power.
Aims to be democratic & have a social function. STILL RADICAL.
Quick development of peoples aesthetic.
Before Bauhaus...
Avante garde- experimental advances.
Pave the way for people to follow.
Political & social aims.
supposed to be understood be all
-belief in progress
-belief in workers
-deeply political
Rodchenko-commissioned by state to help aid cultural development.
advertise libraries and bookshops.
Angular, modern, geometric, photography- new technology.
telling people to teach themselves.
books are visually tied to Bolshevism.
revolution also brings increased role for women... co-leaders to the revolution.
Montage experiments
represents collective. might to change and build modern world.
Lenin represented as reguler Bolshevik.
circle and wedge return.
supposed to show Russia as axis of the world.
Continued development of aesthetic... Print- mass produceable and quick.
people took turns in running the country and being part of the state.
constructivists set up exhibitions like spaces where there was an emphasis on being new and different.
CONSTRUCTIVISTS.
constructions- pieces of art & structures that could translate and be used in the modern world.
artistic & practical.
Viewed like a lab or a look into the mind of the constructor.
Plans for Tatlin's monument.
Communist reposte to the Eiffel tower.
three times the size!
designed to be a functional building with lecture theatres, teaching space, and broadcasting etc.
NO heirarchy of art culture in Russia.
the constructivists aim = achieving the communistic expression of material structures.
Lenin in his constructivist overalls, supposed to be seen as no better than anyone else.
Everything built should represent the glory of Russia.
& not simply that of certain people.
Textiles and other crafts seen as equally as important as any other form of design.
Elevation of something inferior to very important status.
patterns etc were revelusionary sentiment. and spoke the visual language of bolshevism, circles red wedges etc.
EMPHASIS ON FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION.
Heading to a fairer and more equal society through the medium of art and design?
VKHUTEMAS - progressive art school. prospectus cover by El Lissizky.
Art school to train new constructivists and designers. Came before the Bauhaus.
Shut down when Stalin was instated!
perhaps also capitalist nations didn't want to show communist work as more radical than their own.
women served great role in the revolutionary new aesthetic. Equality
Women were not to be objectified by men aso as not to sexualise. Sports wear is good example of this.
Began to jettison variety... and tried to create armies of workers dressed in professional revolution suits.
Loss of individuality
went against individuality as they thought it went against equality.
design for workers sky bike...
... Socially equalise.
then also really fantastical objects such as sky bike.
radical thinking.
Dictatorship towards the end of the 20th century.
REMAINDER OF 20TH CENTURY RUSSIA BECOMES BLACK HOLE.
1930s saw the loss of female equality.
all aims of communism were lost by the return of the classical art style.
Cultures can only develop when given chance to do so...
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