Soviet master of photography Alexander Rodchenko is known as one of the founders of constructivism and the creation of a completely new direction - design. For many years he worked with his wife, the artist Varvara Stepanova, simultaneously practicing photography, painting, graphics, book design, sculpture and advertising design.
In photography, Rodchenko put documentary quality and realism in the images he created in the first place. He is responsible for innovation in the field of experiments with angular composition of the frame and photographic points.
Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko was born in 1891, his father worked as a theater props maker. At first he studied to become a dental technician, but his passion for painting eventually prevailed, and Rodchenko entered the Kazan Art School. It was there that he met his future wife Varvara Stepanova, with whom he subsequently made many joint artistic projects.
Rodchenko was actively interested in painting and worked on creating abstract compositions. For some time he devoted himself to the so-called production art, which involved the creation of utilitarian objects without any artistic content.
After the revolution of 1917, Rodchenko became one of the secretaries of the trade union of painters in Moscow, organizing the necessary conditions for the creativity of young artists. During this period, he tried his hand at decorating the Pittoresk cafe in Moscow and at the same time headed the Museum Bureau. His life in art is a constant experiment involving the creation of completely new graphic, pictorial and spatial projects.
In painting, Rodchenko introduced lines and dots as independent pictorial forms; in the field of creating spatial forms, folding and collapsing structures from flat cardboard elements. In the early 20s he was engaged teaching activities, teaching his students the basics of creating multifunctional items for everyday life and public buildings.
Creative experiments gradually led Rodchenko to photography, which he considered an absolutely necessary means of expression for any contemporary artist. His portrait and reportage photographs, as well as interesting collages using both his own photographs and magazine clippings, immediately attracted attention to him.
Rodchenko’s photographs began to be published in such publications as “Evening Moscow”, “ Soviet photo", "Give", "Pioneer" and "Ogonyok". With a reputation as an innovator in photography, Alexander Rodchenko soon received an offer from Vladimir Mayakovsky to illustrate his books. Rodchenko made several photomontages for the design of the publication of Mayakovsky’s poem “About This” in 1923, which even served as the beginning of the emergence of a new direction contemporary art– illustrations of books and design.
Two years later on International exhibition modern decorative and industrial arts in Paris advertising posters Rodchenko were awarded a silver medal. At the same time, he turned to classical portraiture in photography - portraits of Mayakovsky, Aseev, Tretyakov, Melnikov and other representatives of art. In 1926, the magazine “Soviet Cinema” also published his first perspective photographs of buildings, including the series of photographs “House on Myasnitskaya” and “House of Mosselprom”.
What distinguished Alexander Rodchenko from other photographers of the 20s? The fact is that photography of that time was characterized by the creation of images with a horizontal composition and a rectilinear perspective. The photographs were dominated mainly by static sculptural compositions, which did not evoke great emotions in the viewer.
Rodchenko was the first Soviet photography called for abandoning such dogmas in favor of images that describe life as realistically as possible. That is why he constantly experimented with angles and shooting points in order to catch this or that object in those moments that would constitute its essence, movement.
In photography, Rodchenko sought to reveal the content of an object or an entire phenomenon. To do this, he skillfully “played” with photographic angles, used contrasting chiaroscuro and worked on the original compositional structure of the frame.
Alexander Rodchenko went down in the history of Russian and world photography as the author of unique photographs taken from a variety of angles, in an unusual and unusual way. human eye perspective. He believed that every photographer should “remove the veil from the eyes called the navel... and shoot from all points except the navel until all points are recognized.”
In the 30s, Alexander Rodchenko worked as a photojournalist for the Izogiz publishing house and as a graphic designer for the magazine “USSR in Construction,” which allowed him to take part in a trip to the White Sea-Baltic Canal, where he took a series of reportage photographs. After a series of state propaganda projects inspired by the spirit of the times and revolutionary romanticism, Rodchenko became interested in sports filming and photography unusual world circus
IN post-war years from photography he returned to painting and decoration. However, his original work soon came into conflict with the position of the official authorities and in 1951 Rodchenko was expelled from the Union of Artists.
Alexander Rodchenko died in December 1956 in Moscow and was buried at Donskoy Cemetery. In photography, he is often compared to Edward Weston and Tina Modotti. In many ways, the school of Soviet photography created with his participation discovered many new outstanding names - Arkady Shaikhet, Max Alpert, and others.
In 1998, the Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted a large-scale exhibition of works by Alexander Rodchenko, incorporating all of his best projects in the field of painting, graphics and photography.
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 portrait close up, which has become 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 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 established 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 the 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. An example is 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 close-up photography. 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”, the magazines “30 days”, “Dash”, “Pioneer”, “Ogonyok” and “Radio Listener”. However, the real business card» Rodchenko began to take angle photographs - the artist went down in history with photographs taken at an unusual angle, from an unusual and often unique point, from 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 people’s figures 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 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 a whole series 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 the 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.
He experienced radical changes in home country and ended up initiating sweeping changes in his chosen art form. “We are obliged to experiment,” proclaimed Rodchenko, who abandoned “contemplative” photography.
Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko was born in St. Petersburg in 1891, saw the end of the Tsarist Empire, met the arrival of Lenin, and witnessed Stalin's repressions. As the son of a turbulent generation, he himself was turbulent. Although his first artwork, which emerged during the 1910s and 1920s, were part of the burgeoning Russian avant-garde, Rodchenko became one of many artists whose creative instincts were curbed by the strict principles of artistic expression in force under Soviet rule. From the 1930s until his death in 1956, his work focused on sporting events, parades and other traditional propaganda themes.
From 7 March to 28 June 2015, Villa Manin, commune of Codroipo in northern Italy, hosts an exhibition featuring one hundred works by the artist. His works demonstrate themes technique and Rodchenko's ingenuity. The collection includes works for magazines, cinema and advertising, as well as beautiful compositions created together with his wife and colleague Varvara Stepanova.
Rodchenko's early works reveal a gifted and courageous artist, pouring into seemingly mundane paintings new life. This exhibition is devoid of the dictates of socialist realism in order to show the bright, thoughtful and memorable images for which Alexander Rodchenko is known.
Portrait of Lilia Brik on the poster “Books”, 1924
Poster sketch for documentary film Dzigi Vertov's "Kino-Eye", 1924
Morning exercises on the roof student dormitory in Lefortovo, 1932
Pioneer trumpeter, 1930
Shukhov Tower, 1929
Portrait of a mother, 1924
Varvara Stepanova, 1928
Radio listener, 1929
Staircase, 1930
Mosselprom building, 1926
Laying asphalt, Leningradskoe highway, 1929
Boats, 1926
Bus, 1932
Lunch in a mechanized canteen, 1932
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. This is especially noted recent years life.
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, in 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
By chance, the next facet of this extraordinary man’s talent was revealed - photography. 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 new look 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.