Alexander Rodchenko was born in 1891 into the family of a theater prop maker. His father did not at all want his son to follow in his footsteps, and tried with all his might to give the boy a “real” profession. In his autobiographical notes, Rodchenko recalled: “In Kazan, when I was 14 years old, I climbed onto the roof in the summer and wrote a diary in small books, full of sadness and melancholy from my uncertain situation, I wanted to learn to draw, but I was taught to become a dental technician...” Future photographer The avant-garde artist even managed to work for two years in the technical prosthetic laboratory of the Kazan dental school of Dr. O.N. Nathanson, but at the age of 20 he left his medical studies and entered the Kazan Art School, and then the Moscow Stroganov School, which opened the way for him to independent creative life. Rodchenko did not immediately turn to photography. In the mid-1990s, he was actively involved in painting, and his abstract compositions took part in many exhibitions. A little later, he showed his talent in a new field, taking part in the design of the Pittoresk cafe in Moscow, and for some time he even abandoned painting, turning to “industrial art” - a movement that in its extreme form denied art and addressed purely to the creation of utilitarian objects. In addition, in the late tenths and early twenties, the young artist participated a lot in public life: he became one of the organizers of the trade union of painters, served in the fine arts department of the People's Commissariat for Education, and headed the Museum Bureau. Rodchenko’s first steps in the field of photography date back to the early 20s, when he, at that time a theater artist and designer, was faced with the need to capture his work on film. Having discovered a new art for himself, Rodchenko was completely fascinated by it - however, in photography, as in painting, at that time he was more interested in “pure composition”, exploring how objects located on a plane influence each other. It is worth noting that Rodchenko was luckier as a photographer than as an artist - the former was recognized faster. Soon enough, the young photographer created a reputation for himself as an innovator, producing a series of collages and montages using his own photographs and magazine clippings. Rodchenko's works were published in magazines " Soviet photo" and "New LEF", and Mayakovsky invited him to illustrate his books. Rodchenko’s photomontages, used in the design of the edition of Mayakovsky’s poem “About This” (1923), literally became the beginning of a new genre. Since 1924, Rodchenko increasingly turned to classical areas photography - portrait and reportage - however, here too the restless innovator did not allow established traditions to dictate his terms. The photographer created his own canons, which ensured his work a place of honor in any modern photography textbook. As an example, we can cite a series of portraits of Mayakovsky, for which Rodchenko discarded all the traditions of pavilion photography, or “Portrait of a Mother” (1924), which became a classic of photography close-up. The photographer also made a great contribution to the development of the photo reportage genre - it was Alexander Rodchenko who was the first to use multiple photographs of a person in action, which allows one to obtain a collective documentary-figurative idea of the model. Rodchenko’s photo reports were published in a number of central publications: the newspaper “Evening Moscow”, magazines “30 days”, “Daesh”, “Pioneer”, “Ogonyok” and “Radio Listener”. However, the real business card“For Rodchenko, angle photographs began - the artist went down in history with photographs taken at an unusual angle, from an unusual and often unique point, in a perspective that distorts and “revitalizes” ordinary objects. For example, the photographs taken by Rodchenko from the roofs (top angle) are so dynamic that it seems as if the figures of people are about to begin to move, and the camera will float over the city, revealing a breathtaking panorama - it is not surprising that the first angle photographs of buildings (the series “House on Myasnitskaya”, 1925 and “House of Mosselprom”, 1926) were published in the magazine “Soviet Cinema”. Around the same time, Rodchenko’s debut as a photography theorist dates back to: from 1927, in the magazine “New LEF”, of which he was a member of the editorial board, the artist began publishing not only photographs, but also articles (“On the photo in this issue”, “ Paths modern photography", etc.) However, for the beginning of the 30s, some of his experiments seemed too bold: in 1932, the opinion was expressed that Rodchenko’s famous “Pioneer Trumpeter”, shot from the lowest point, looked like a “well-fed bourgeois”, and the artist himself did not want restructure in accordance with the tasks of proletarian photography. Filming the construction of the White Sea Canal in 1933 really forced Rodchenko to rethink in many ways the relationship between art and reality, which seemed less and less inspiring to the artist. It was at this time that in Rodchenko’s photographs, the unprecedented construction sites of socialism and the new Soviet reality began to give way to the special world of sports and the magical reality of the circus. Rodchenko dedicated to the latter whole line unique series - the pictures were to be included in a special issue of the magazine “USSR at Construction”. Unfortunately, the issue was signed for publication five days before the start of the Great Patriotic War and never saw the light of day. IN post-war years Rodchenko worked a lot as a designer and returned to painting, although he still often turned to his favorite genre of photo reporting. His “non-standard” creativity still raised certain doubts in official circles - the disagreements between the artist and the authorities ended in 1951 with the exclusion of Rodchenko from the Union of Artists. However, just three years later, in 1954, the artist was reinstated in this organization. On December 3, 1956, Alexander Rodchenko died in Moscow from a stroke and was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery.
From the life of the first Russian designer and master of photography
the site is starting a large project “50 most important photographers of our time”. We will talk about photographers who had a great influence on the development of photographic art. About the authors who, with their works, shaped the concept of “modern photography”. About the great masters of their craft, whose names and works are simply necessary to know.
It’s strange, but most commercial photographers do not think about the roots of their profession, focusing their work only on colleagues or a couple of casually familiar names. But in this sense, our profession differs little from the profession of, say, an artist. Ask a brush artist if he knows anyone famous artists- most likely, in response you will hear a short lecture about painting, in which the interlocutor will talk about his favorite artistic styles, schools, will most likely accompany the story with a lot of dates, names and links to works. Yes, most artists have special education(at least at the art school level), where they learn about all this. But in to a greater extent This, of course, is self-education. Artists need to know the global context, because it is impossible to create works in isolation from the work of great masters, without knowing the basics. So why do photographers think differently?
The first professional on our list is the great Russian artist and photographer Alexander Rodchenko.
Even if you try to describe the activities of Alexander Rodchenko exclusively in #tags, you will end up with several pages of text. The most important participant in the Russian avant-garde, artist, sculptor, graphic artist, photographer... And much more.
Rodchenko was born in St. Petersburg, studied at the Kazan art school them. Feshin, where he met his future wife - talented artist Varvara Stepanova. Subsequently, he held a number of important positions, including the post of chairman of the institute artistic culture(in this post he replaced another great artist - Wassily Kandinsky)
“Work for life, not for palaces, temples, cemeteries and museums”
This was his motto, which fully reflected the sentiments of the avant-garde artists of that time. Rejecting “decoration” and going against the aesthetic criteria of art, they endowed their works - from paintings to architectural forms - with many details, each of which had an important, constructive function. Hence the name of one of the main directions of their work - constructivism. “The art of the future,” Rodchenko said, “will not be a cozy decoration for family apartments. It will be equal in necessity to 48-story skyscrapers, grandiose bridges, wireless telegraphy, aeronautics, submarines, etc.”
Rodchenko began his work at a time of great change: outside the window was what would later be called the Leninist Soviet project. Hopes for a bright communist future were inspiring.
Rodchenko and photomontage
Among other things, Rodchenko is famous for his experiments in the field of photomontage - he was actually a pioneer of this art in Russia. A sort of master of Photoshop, but in Soviet times. You need to understand that Rodchenko, as a true communist and supporter of Soviet power, tried to direct his abilities to strengthening new orders of life, so he was happy to engage in propaganda activities. Thus, the most interesting and memorable propaganda posters of that time were designed using the photomontage technique. Masterfully combining text boxes, black and white photographs and color images, Rodchenko was engaged in what would now be called poster design - by the way, he is often called the founder of design and advertising in Russia. It was Rodchenko who Mayakovsky entrusted with the design of his book “About This”.
Rodchenko and photography
Rodchenko, like all Russian avant-garde artists, experimented with forms and technology. So he took up photography, and reportage photography at that. Using unexpected angles (the term "Rodchenko's angle" is often found in art history literature), forcing the viewer to spin prints before his eyes (or his head in front of the prints) and creating images that seem to be about to move, he has established himself as one of the most progressive and pioneering photographers of the time. Although then there were, frankly speaking, fewer of them (photographers) than there are now. Rodchenko plays with visual means photographs, honing them to the limit. Rhythmic patterns, compositionally ideal interweaving of lines - he manages all this masterfully. He was one of the first to use multiple shooting of an object in action - storyboarding. Rodchenko was not afraid to violate the recently established photographic canons - he made portraits from the bottom up or deliberately “filled up the horizon.” With his photographic “eye,” he seemed to be trying to capture the whole Soviet Union. Perhaps that is why he took many photographs (especially reportage shots from demonstrations) while standing on stairs, roofs, or being in other non-obvious points.
Rodchenko continued his experiments even after the “death” of the avant-garde project - but under socialist realism and Stalin this was no longer encouraged. In 1951 he was even expelled from the Union of Artists and was rehabilitated only in 1954 - 2 years before his death.
Today the name of Alexander Rodchenko bears the most important educational institution in area visual arts- “Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia”.
Rodchenko Alexander Mikhailovich
(11/23) 12/5/1891, St. Petersburg - 12/3/1956, Moscow
Painter, graphic artist, photographer, designer, teacher, member of the constructivist group of INHUK (Institute of Artistic Culture), member of the "October" group, member of the Union of Artists in the graphic section
In 1911-1914 he studied at the Kazan Art School, and in 1916 he moved to Moscow. He exhibited as a painter since 1916, one of the organizers of the professional union of painters in 1917. From 1918 to 1922 he worked in the department of the Iso Narkompros (department visual arts People's Commissariat of Education) as head of the museum bureau and as a member of the art board.
At the same time, he developed a series of graphic, pictorial and spatial abstract-geometric minimalist works. Since 1916 he participated in the most important exhibitions of the Russian avant-garde, in architectural competitions and the work of the Zhivsculptarch commission (commission for pictorial, sculptural and architectural synthesis). In the manifesto texts “Everything is Experience” and “Line” he recorded his creative credo. He treated art as the invention of new forms and possibilities, viewed his work as a huge experiment in which each work represents a minimal pictorial element in form and is limited in scope. expressive means. In 1917-18 he worked with the plane, in 1919 he wrote “Black on Black”, works based only on texture, in 1919-1920 he introduced lines and dots as independent pictorial forms, in 1921 he showed at the exhibition “5x5=25” (Moscow) triptych of three monochrome colors (yellow, red, blue).
Simultaneously with painting and graphics, he was engaged in spatial structures. The first cycle - “Folding and collapsing” (1918) - made of flat cardboard elements, the second - “Planes reflecting light” (1920-1921) - free-hanging mobiles made of concentric shapes cut out of plywood (circle, square, ellipse, triangle and hexagon ), the third - “According to the principle of identical forms” (1920-21) - spatial structures from standard wooden blocks, connected according to the combinatorial principle. In 1921 he summed up his artistic searches and announced a transition to “production art.”
In 1920 he became a professor at the painting faculty, in 1922 - 1930 - a professor at the metalworking faculty of VKHUTEMAS-VKHUTEIN (Higher Art and Technical Workshops - Higher Art and Technical Institute). Taught students how to design multifunctional items for Everyday life And public buildings, achieving expressiveness of form not through decoration, but through revealing the design of objects, ingenious inventions of transforming structures. In 1920-1924 he was a member of INHUK.
Since 1923 he worked as a universal profile designer. He was engaged in printing, photomontage and advertising graphics (together with V. Mayakovsky), was a member of the LEF (Left Front) group, and later was a member of the editorial board of the New LEF magazine.
In 1925 he was sent to Paris to formalize the Soviet partition International exhibition decorative arts and the art industry, carried out his interior design project for the “Workers’ Club”.
From 1924 he was engaged in photography. Known for his poignant documentaries psychological portraits loved ones (“Portrait of a Mother”, 1924), friends and acquaintances from LEF (portraits of Mayakovsky, L. and O. Brik, Aseev, Tretyakov), artists and architects (Vesnin, Gan, Popova). In 1926, he published his first perspective photographs of buildings (the series “House on Myasnitskaya”, 1925 and “House of Mosselprom”, 1926) in the magazine “Soviet Cinema”. In the articles “The Ways of Modern Photography”, “Against the Summarized Portrait for a Snapshot” and “Major Illiteracy or Minor Nasty”, he promoted a new, dynamic, documentary-accurate view of the world, and defended the need to master the upper and lower points of view in photography. Participated in the exhibition " Soviet photography in 10 years" (1928, Moscow).
In the late 20s and early 30s he was a photojournalist for the newspaper “Evening Moscow”, magazines “30 days”, “Daesh”, “Pioneer”, “Ogonyok” and “Radio Listener”. At the same time he worked in cinema (designer of the films “Moscow in October”, 1927, “Journalist”, 1927-28, “Doll with Millions” and “Albidum”, 1928) and theater (productions “Inga” and “Bedbug”, 1929), designing original furniture, costumes and scenery.
One of the organizers and leaders of the “October” photo group. In 1931, at the exhibition of the “October” group in Moscow at the House of Press, he exhibited a number of controversial photographs - taken from the bottom point of “Pioneer Girl” and “Pioneer Trumpeter”, 1930; a series of dynamic shots “Vakhtan Sawmill”, 1931 - which served as a target for devastating criticism and accusations of formalism and unwillingness to rebuild in accordance with the tasks of “proletarian photography”.
In 1932 he left Oktyabr and became a photojournalist in Moscow for the Izogiz publishing house. Since 1933 he worked as a graphic designer for the magazine “USSR in Construction”, photo albums “10 Years of Uzbekistan”, “First Cavalry”, “Red Army”, “Soviet Aviation” and others (together with his wife V. Stepanova). He continued painting in 30s and 40s. He was a jury member and designer of many photo exhibitions, was a member of the presidium of the photo section of the professional union of film photographers, and was a member of the Moscow Union of Artists of the USSR since 1932. In 1936 he participated in the Exhibition of Soviet Masters. photographic art." Since 1928, he regularly sent his works to photographic salons in the USA, France, Spain, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia and other countries.
Literature:
Chan-Magomedov S.O. Rodchenko. The complete work. London, 1986
A.M.Rodchenko and V.F.Stepanova. (From the Masters of Art book series). M., 1989
Alexandr M. Rodchenko, Varvara F. Stepanova: The Future Is Our Only Goal. Munich, 1991
A.N. Lavrentyev. Rodchenko's angles. M., 1992
Alexander Lavrentiev. Alexander Rodchenko. Photography. 1924-1954. Koln, 1995
Alexander Rodchenko. Experiments for the future. M., 1996
Alexandr Rodchenko. (Published in conjunction with the exhibition Alexandr Rodchenko at the Museum of Modern Art). New York, 1998
Avant-garde photographer, innovative photographer Alexander Rodchenko allowed the viewer to look at familiar things from an unusual angle, creating the composition of the picture according to his own rules, far from traditional canons.
Rodchenko is called one of the founders of constructivism, the founder of design and advertising in the USSR.
Alexander Rodchenko
The father of the future avant-garde photographer worked as a theater prop maker. He did everything so that his son would get a “real” profession. In his autobiographical notes, Rodchenko wrote:
“In Kazan, when I was about 14 years old, I climbed onto the roof in the summer and wrote a diary in small books, full of sadness and melancholy from my uncertain situation, I wanted to learn to draw, but I was taught to become a dental technician...”
At the age of 20, the future innovator nevertheless abandoned the study of medicine and took up what he was passionate about: he graduated from the Kazan Art School, and then entered the Moscow Stroganov School.
"Mandolinplayer", painting.
In the 10s of the last century, he was quite successful in abstract painting and worked as an artist in theater and cinema.
A little later, he turned to constructivism - “a movement that in its extreme form denied art and turned purely to the creation of utilitarian objects.”
“Galoshes of Rubber Trust”, poster.
Rodchenko took up photography in the 1920s, when, while working as a theater artist and designer, he was faced with the need to capture his work on film.
The photograph fascinated Rodchenko! First of all, the young photographer was interested in composition, the influence of objects on each other in the same plane.
“And it costs centuries,” illustration for V. V. Mayakovsky’s poem “About This.”
Rodchenko quickly earned a reputation as an innovator, performing collages and photomontage own works and magazine clippings.
Subsequently, he prepared illustrations for Mayakovsky's books. In particular, for the poem “About This,” which marked the beginning of a new genre in photography.
Cover of the first edition of V. V. Mayakovsky’s poem “About This”, 1923.
Rodchenko's favorite genres were portraits and reportage.
It was with them that the photographer began to experiment, creating his own canons. An example is a series of photographic portraits of Mayakovsky, which were made as the artist wanted, and not as was customary.
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Another innovation of the photographer was the close-up portrait, which became a classic of the genre.
"Portrait of a Mother", 1924.
"Portrait of a Mother", full frame.
Rodchenko also contributed to the genre of photo reporting: he was the first to use multiple photographs of a person in action.
The photographer’s reportage works were published in the most popular publications of that time: the newspaper “Evening Moscow”, magazines “30 days”, “Pioneer”, “Ogonyok” and “Radio Listener”.
The journey of Lily Brik from Moscow to Leningrad. Reportage. 1929
“In the spring of 1929, Lilya Brik decided to organize a motor rally “Moscow-Leningrad” in Mayakovsky’s Renault car.
Rodchenko was a photojournalist passenger. We drove about 20 versts from Moscow and decided to return.”
Rodchenko's calling card was his photographs taken at an unusual angle, in a distorting angle, bringing the objects in the photographs into action.
“Fire escape”, from the series “House on Myasnitskaya”.
"Passerby", 1926
"Demonstration", 1926
“Mother at the table” (variant), 1927
Many of Rodchenko’s experiments turned out to be too bold for the early 30s, so the artist had to adapt to new tasks and hold back his passion for experimentation until better times.
"Pioneer Trumpeter", 1930
The famous photograph “Pioneer Trumpeter,” taken from the lowest point, seems completely harmless to us today, but in the 30s, critics called the photographer’s model a “well-fed bourgeois” and suggested reconsidering his view of creativity.
Looking through Rodchenko's numerous works, I was primarily interested in those completed in the period from 1924 to 1930. I got the impression that this was the most successful time for the artist and his work, a time full of freedom and lack of prohibitions, a time full of experiments and the desire to invent something new and interesting, primarily for himself.
VELVET: Ksenia Alkhmam
Alexander Mikhalovich Rodchenko, a constructivist and designer, spent his entire adult life in creative pursuits. He did not always find understanding with the state, and then there was stagnation in his work, and melancholy in his soul. The last years of his life were especially marked by this.
Childhood and youth
In 1891, a son, Alexander, was born into the family of a theater prop maker and a laundress. Eleven years later they moved to Kazan. There Rodchenko graduated from the elementary parish school in 1905. The parents dreamed that their son would study and become a dental technician - the specialty of a wealthy person, but the teenager wanted to draw. From the age of 20 until the outbreak of the First World War, he studied for four years in Kazan, at an art school, where he met Varya Stepanova, who would later become a friend and ally for life.
But in 1914 he was drafted into the army and sent to the Moscow Zemstvo, where he was in charge of the hospital train.
Moscow
Since 1916, Alexander Rodchenko began to experiment with painting and participate in V. Tatlin’s exhibitions, where he exhibited his avant-garde paintings. You can have different attitudes towards the avant-garde. In these works, someone will find deep meaning in the new forms invented, because the artist was thinking about something when creating the paintings. Alexander Rodchenko viewed his creative search as a research method.
After all, he wrote programs in which he recorded his beliefs. And in paintings composed of geometric shapes, he tried to reveal the depth of space and the shape of the elements.
Organizational activities in Moscow
In 1917, artists created a professional union. Alexander Rodchenko is a fully formed person, he is 26 years old, he is full of energy and, as the secretary of the trade union, he takes on organizing the life of young artists. In addition, he participates in the design of the Pittoresk cafe, and also serves in the People's Commissariat for Education.
Creation
In 1923, Mayakovsky’s book “About This” was published. Rodchenko created brilliant illustrations for it. The photo collages included portraits of the creator himself and his beloved Lily Brik. The book was received ambiguously by contemporaries. The setting enhanced the frankness of the drama. For example, Lunacharsky was delighted with the poem, but was skeptical about its design; Rodchenko’s work was too innovative. This book was a continuation of their joint design work on posters. In the 20s, the language of the poster changed dramatically - it became extremely catchy, laconic, and informative. It differed sharply from Western European in its innovative forms. Mayakovsky and Rodchenko in tandem created political
During this short period, several appeals were created to contact Mosselprom, among which the most striking are “Cheap bread” and “Nowhere else but...”, as well as Rezinotrest nipples, GUM advertising. In addition to catchy texts, they stand out for their visual impact: simple contrasting bright colors, strange angles. And also used oblique, vertical and horizontal lines, font different sizes. Everything taken together could not fail to attract attention and convince.
A new kind of art
The next facet of this talent was accidentally revealed extraordinary person- photographic art. Alexander Rodchenko was faced with the need to photograph his theatrical works. What’s amazing is that ideas simply flowed out in the 20s. The question arises: when did he have time to implement them all? Did you work for, like, 24 hours? Having discovered the new kind art, he devoted himself to it with all his fervor. He captured moments of life everywhere and created masterpieces.
He photographed people and objects from unusual points, took angles, photographed from below and above, and created portraits. There were studio shootings, on city streets, and in nature.
In the 1930s, Rodchenko was accused of being bourgeois for filming a pioneer blowing a trumpet. But he continued to work, not adapting to the demands of the authorities. The matter ended with him being expelled from the Union of Artists in 1951. It was a dark period in his life and in the life of his wife Varvara Stepanova. But everything settled down after Stalin's death, and in 1954 Rodchenko was reinstated in the ranks of artists. Two years later, in 1956, Rodchenko passed away. He was 64 years old.
But he did so much that his archives should continue to be explored and photographic exhibitions of his works should be made, since they reflect the time and have not lost their artistic expressiveness.