What is constructivism?

The Background and Content of Constructivism

I. Definition

Constructivism (Constructivism):

Also known as structuralism; Constructivism, which developed in 19 13~20' s, refers to sculptures composed of fragments of metal, glass, wood, cardboard or plastic. It emphasizes the movement in space, rather than the sense of volume emphasized by traditional sculpture. Constructivism accepted cubism's mounting and relief technology, from the addition and subtraction of traditional sculptures to composition and combination. At the same time, it also absorbed the geometric abstract concept of absolutism, and even applied it to hanging objects and relief structures, which had a decisive impact on modern sculpture.

Second, the background and content of constructivism

Constructivism is an art movement rising in Russia. It began after the Russian revolution stimulated by Marxism in 19 17 and lasted until about 1922 (G.Julier, 1993:56). For radical Russian artists, the October Revolution introduced a new order based on industrialization, which was the end of the old order. This revolution is regarded as a great victory of the Russian proletariat. After the revolution, the general environment provided opportunities for constructivism, which believed in the concept of cultural revolution and progress, to practice in the fields of art, architecture and design.

The significance of constructivism to industrial design is that their purpose is to transform artists into "designers". But this is what we can understand now. In fact, the concept of "design" was not formed at that time, and the meaning of so-called design has not fully emerged today, so they adopted a different saying: "making art"

Russian constructionists hold high the anti-art position and avoid traditional artistic materials, such as oil paintings, pigments, canvases and pre-revolutionary images. Therefore, works of art may come from ready-made things, such as wood, metal, photos or paper. Artists' works are often regarded as simplification or abstraction of the system. In all fields of cultural activities, from graphic design to movies and theaters, their goal is to create a new reality by combining different elements.

Although all avant-garde Russian artists share the same enthusiasm, they have different views on the role of artists and art in the new communist society. In the early post-revolution, their heated debates inspired different constructivist ideologies.

On the one hand, Malve, Kandinsky and pevsner are "purists". They believe that art is basically a spiritual activity, and its job is to sort out people's insight into the world. Malve, in particular, claimed that industrial design inevitably depended on abstract creation. Moreover, it is a second-hand (re-engineering) activity, which is idealized by drawing lessons from the study of contemporary environment. For Marxists, because these artists do not agree with the views of productists, this proposition leads to the disconnection from social real life.

Compared with "purists", Tatlin and the eager communist Roshenko insist that an artist must become a skilled craftsman, and he must learn to use the tools and materials of modern industrial production to provide his enthusiasm and ability, and directly serve the best interests of the proletariat. These "artists/engineers" must bring harmony to life itself, turn work into art and art into work. The argument here has become the mainstream of constructivism.

Third, the political motivation and style of constructivism

Marxist artistic and cultural theory determines the content of constructivism. These discourses revolve around political motives and styles.

Constitutionalists believe that all artists should "enter the factory, where there is real life." Art will also serve the construction of a new society.

Therefore, we must abandon the traditional artistic concept of providing pleasant experience; Instead, it is mass production and industry, which is inseparable from the new society and new political order. These clear political motives lead to the practice of Marxist theory. For example, Tatlin invented and built different designs for a certain type of heating furnace, so as to output the maximum heating value with the least fuel consumption. Hot stoves were a very common commodity among the poor at that time, and some people even took furniture away as fuel. Another exhibition of Marxist ideology in design is Luo's "Workers' Club", which was exhibited at the Russian Pavilion of Paris International Art Industry Fair on 1925. This is one of the earliest attempts of constructivist indoor environment design. The concept of workers' club appeared in the 1920s. As the center of the communist lifestyle, it should not only provide space for political activities, but also provide entertainment and leisure. If possible, the club must show what the new life will be like. According to Luo's ideology, the club should be a practical demonstration of constructivist design principles.

The planning principles of clubhouse design and furniture design have economic considerations: maximizing the use of floor and space, which involves how to make wooden furniture easy to use, standardized in production, flexible and easy to expand. In practice, many foldable parts are designed, which are easy to disassemble and store when not in use. Such as pulpit, folding screen, display board, bench, etc. In order to take into account all kinds of activities and activities of the club, the club has set up tables and chairs, book cabinets, storage space for contemporary literature, poster display windows, maps and newspapers, "Lenin Corner" and so on. For dialogues, meetings and briefings, a speaker forum and an activity screen for movies and slides are designed.

As for style, EL Lissitzky condemned the bourgeois design of mass-produced products: at that time, the design only covered products with classical, Goethe or Rococo shapes. He pointed out that artists do not need the so-called external aesthetic and artistic popularity, but need a deep understanding of style (C. Lodor,1983:155 ~157). By examining a series of materials, he came to the following conclusion about the basic style: he is honest and has no details. Pay attention to the whole and be accurate. It doesn't come from the form of exhaustion or imaginary fantasy, but from the richness of simplicity. On the whole or in detail, it can be composed of circles and straight lines, which is geometric. It is hand-made with the help of modern machines and is industrialized.

Based on the above characteristics, the following conclusions are drawn: furniture design includes the expression of structure and volume, and the combination of volume and space outline, scale, proportion, module and rhythm. Under the test of art, the essence of materials and the color of materials, the ultimate essence of these elements lies in: function. In this way, designers can produce products that convey the life of the new Soviet Union.

The best example of fully implementing this design principle is the furniture design of Luo Workers' Club. His furniture is composed of right-angled straight lines in strict Euclidean geometry, and he treats the use of materials honestly. Open skeleton-obviously reduces the weight and is easier to fold. Furniture is made of wood and has a simple form, so it can be produced in low-tech small factories all over the Soviet Union without expensive production lines. These considerations fully reflect the following points: structural rethinking, strict attention to the economy of material use, functional considerations in use and production, and ingenious space-saving design. Furniture is painted in four colors: white, red, gray and black, which seems to be the standard color of structuralism.

Fourthly, constructivism and its decline.

1940, Lisky reviewed his design activities and criticized himself and other artists for being too theoretical about furniture design. If you really want to spend money, it is also in speech and design activities, rather than building models. They ignored the actual manufacturing and the actual reality of carpentry (C. Lodor,1983:155 ~157).

Structuralists make many plans, concept maps and models. However, these have never really been mass-produced, even in Rodchenko's workers' clubs. In Russian industrial design, they have never practiced the ideal of completely contributing to the new society. On the other hand, ironically, Marxist theory led to the emergence of structuralism, but the strict implementation of Marxism led to the end of structuralism.

Bogdanov, the main theorist of the proletarian movement, declared that proletarian artists are independent individuals and independent of the leadership of the Party. However, this ideology was rejected by Lenin, who insisted that all organizations should be under the management of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Such control can also avoid the formation of a new independent and unproductive artist class. Due to the constant conflicts, social realism has gradually replaced structuralism in Russian graphic art. Finally, it was formally decided in 1932 that social realism was the only legal style.

Bao Danov declared that the proletariat must have its own class art to organize forces for socialist struggle. Paradoxically, through Marxist theory, the Constitutionalists have created many arts, which cannot be understood and appreciated by workers because of their abstractness. Even the furniture in the workers' club, the so-called strict Euclidean geometric lines and honest materials, are too abstract for the proletariat. Finally, pure visual form is denounced as "decadent formalism" and "divorced from social reality".

It is reported that Lenin once said that this kind of art is harmful both in thought and practice. Such ideological and political factors led to the end of constructivism. This is similar to the contradiction of Bauhaus affected by it. Bauhaus's original purpose was to create products that serve most ordinary people in society, but because of its abstract modeling and artistry, his price was too high to be accepted by the public and became a collection of capitalists to show off their wealth.

Five, the main representative of constructivism

Since the early 1920s, three brothers Vesnin have been teaching in Moscow Technical School, Moscow Advanced Technical College and Moscow Institute of Architecture. B.A. Vesnin was the first president of the All-Soviet Architects Association and the first president of the Soviet Institute of Architecture.

Vesnin Brothers' architectural creation activities began before the October Revolution. Russian classical style is adopted in civil buildings such as luxury houses and banks, and simple style adapted to reinforced concrete frame structure and light wall is adopted in industrial buildings. From the early 1920s to the mid-1930s, they were representatives of the Constructivism School of Architecture, which played a positive role in the modernization of Soviet architecture and interacted with modernist architecture in Western Europe. A.A. Vesnin led the organization "Modern Architects Union" (OCA, 1925 ~ 1930) of constructivism architects. Constitutionalists advocate building the living environment into a model for casting new socialist people, solving the functional and economic requirements of modern life for buildings by means of modern material technology, and carrying out large-scale construction by means of industrialization.

Vesnin Brothers advocated the "functional method" of architectural design, that is, "the method of unifying the purpose, means and architectural image, and unifying the content and form so as not to contradict each other". The so-called content is the sum of the ongoing functional process, thoughts and feelings in the building; "New life needs new modeling, and new modeling can only resort to new materials and new technologies". The so-called "new life" is a life with socialist characteristics.

Vesnin brothers believe that industrial buildings and large-scale construction of workers' houses are the main tasks of architecture in the socialist era. When they are engaged in the planning of cities and workers' villages, they regard cities and workers' villages as a complex with functions such as labor, education, residence, culture and entertainment, and explore public housing forms that are conducive to cultivating people's collective spirit. They designed many cultural palaces and theaters.

The main architectural works of Vesnin Brothers include: Shatur Hydropower Station (19 19), Moscow Proletarian Cultural Palace (193 1 year design, partially completed) and Dnieper Hydropower Station (1929), which is responsible for planning Zabo next to the hydropower station. The Moscow Labor Palace, which they designed in 1923, is a masterpiece of early constructivist architecture. The internal space is arranged by function, and the external form is its direct expression, completely getting rid of the traditional architectural composition. Using the possibility provided by the frame structure, the internal space flows smoothly, and the two audience halls are separated by activities, which can be separated and combined. Like the Moscow Labor Palace, the audience hall of the Kharkov Mass Music Theatre has only pool seats and scattered seats, and there is no floor or box, in order to show the democratic spirit of equality and unity. The stage is connected with the audience hall, which is suitable for mass large-scale performances, with a high degree of mechanization and can adapt to various changes. Dnieper Hydropower Station has created a good working environment for workers and cultivated their image. On the one hand, Zaporoge city next to it adopts standard design to promote industrial construction, on the other hand, it pays attention to the diversity of urban appearance and designs a residential area with large greening scale, perfect living facilities and novel layout. Together with the hydropower station, it is a representative achievement of the early construction of the Soviet Union.

The later activities began with 1932 Moscow Soviet Palace Design Competition. The Soviet Union first regarded large-scale public buildings as artistic monuments, with special emphasis on the inheritance of classical heritage. General civil buildings have followed suit. Constructivist architecture and the whole modernist architectural trend of thought have been severely criticized. Vesnin brothers insisted: "Classical language is the language of the past. Although they were perfect before, they can't represent today. " They continue to use the "functional method" to design public buildings, but most of them have not been built.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, for about 65,438+00 years, B.A., the chief architect of the Construction Administration Bureau of Vesnin Renzhong Industrial People's Committee, directly led the urban planning of a large number of industrial centers and the design of industrial, factory buildings, public buildings and residential buildings. From 1936, he once again served as the president of the Soviet Institute of Architecture, and devoted himself to organizational construction and academic construction. During the Great Patriotic War, he led the School of Architecture to build the rear area, and studied local materials and light structures in simple houses. After the war, urban planning was carried out in the war-damaged areas, and industrialized construction methods were promoted.

Vesnin's three brothers all won the Red Flag Medal; B.A. Vesnin also won the Lenin Medal.

Peter Behrens (1868- 1940)

German famous architect, pioneer of industrial product design, chief architect of "German Manufacturing Alliance". He is a great master. Modernist architects Gropius, Mies Van der Rohe and Le Corbusier all worked in his design room in their early years, and he had a far-reaching influence on the development of modern German architecture.

Bachlens studied at Hamburg Art School in his early years and went to Munich in 1897. 1900, Archduke Hesse called him to darmstadt Art Village, where he turned from art to architecture. 1903 was appointed president of Dover Art School in Dissel. 1907 was hired as an architect and design coordinator by German General Electric Company. 1909- 19 12 years, he participated in the construction of the company's workshop, in which the steam turbine workshop he designed became the most influential building in Germany at that time and was praised as the first real "modern building".

His later works include German Embassy in St. Petersburg (1911912) and Austrian Tobacco Company (1930). 1922- 1927 Professor of Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.

Tetlin

Malevic

Roshenko (a)

Lisitski

Gaby

Paul (a)

Kandinsky (West)

The origin of constructivism

George Rick

In Russia, the breakthrough of cubist painting and sculpture comes from two aspects. The first is marinetti's declaration of futurism in his speeches in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The other part comes from On the Spirit of Art written by Kandinsky. 19 10 was completed in Germany, and 19 12 was translated into Russian. Russian artists have thus completed all the preparatory work for entering a completely non-objective world.

19 13, Tatlin produced and exhibited the composition "Hanging Wooden Iron Form" in Moscow, and Bochuni also painted something similar. At the same time, Tatlin coined the word "constructivism". Both works and ci originated from the development of collage to three dimensions, because Tatlin had visited Picasso's studio in Paris. When Picasso devoted himself to cubism, he occasionally came into contact with art without theme. The person who uses the term "non-objectivism" is Rodchenko, who is Tetlin's colleague. He composed a work with circles and straight lines, but it can only be regarded as an imitation of Euclid's geometric composition.

19 13 armory Modern Art Exhibition caused a sensation in new york. Malevik only drew a black and white square on the set designed for the futuristic theater. He continued to create with a pencil block, and later a painting was exhibited at the "Rake" exhibition in Moscow. At the same time, Malevik formulated "supremacism", as he later wrote: "I tried my best to liberate form in figurative art, and I sought refuge in square form." He expressed his gratitude for futurism: "The harmonious expression of our time ... has pointed to abstract art, and all phenomena and related problems have been reduced to a new culture-'non-objective supremacism'".

Painting with simple forms such as squares, triangles and crosses, after a few months, Malevic fell into a completely non-objective artistic embrace. Mondriaan, who is a little older and mysterious, took several years to make this leap.

Supremacism is non-objective, non-social and non-utilitarian. Malevik "compresses the whole picture into a black square on a white canvas." He said, "I think only the night belongs to me. This is a new art I imagined, and I call it supremacism. The box of supremacism ... can be compared to the symbol of primitive people. They don't want to make decorations, but want to express a sense of harmony. " He thinks that art is superior to religion, and supremacism is the most spiritual and pure form in art. In addition, he thinks that the purest example is a box drawn with a pencil. "For minimalism, the visible phenomenon of the objective world itself is meaningless; What matters is the feeling. So it has little to do with the specific environment. Supremacism does not study it or touch it. They only feel it. "

Although these narratives have great influence, Malevik admits that he feels that "when I want to leave the ideal world where I used to live, work and believe, fear will come." But the happiness of the free rather than the objective world brought me into the' desert' with nothing but feeling, and feeling became the content of my life. The' empty side' I exhibited has this kind of impersonal feeling. " Like Plato, he thinks that the perceived world is illusory and the truth is still far away.

His geometric thought, including white on a white square (19 18), contained the purest and least objective expression at that time. He defined his supremacism as: ① the universality of all phenomena; ② "Supremacist's straight line (dynamic feature)"; ③ "Dynamic supremacy in planning"; ④ "Spatial static supremacism-abstract architecture (with box factor of supremacism) ... can bring the sense of shaping on canvas into space"; ⑤ "(black) side = feeling, white background = no feeling".

The conflict between Malevik's art and theory soon appeared. 19 17 years, Gabor returned to Russia after three years abroad. In an interview with reporters, he said that he found that supremacism was undoubtedly the dominant artistic philosophy among the avant-garde in Moscow.

Although he is a Russian, his fate determines that he is famous as an abstract painter, but Kandinsky did not directly participate in these Moscow experiences. In recent years, he has been almost abroad, but his On the Spirit of Art has been widely read, and his theory of "internal needs" has guided his compatriots to make greater efforts for non-objective art.

The internal demand comes from three factors: ① As a creator, every artist has something to express in his heart. (2) Every artist has the desire to express childlike innocence in childhood ...; Every artist who serves the art must devote himself to the art career from the perspective of psychological needs and will not make any (formal) restrictions. An artist can express his needs in any form, and his inner impulse must find a suitable external form.

As early as 1908, Kandinsky had a clear expectation of abstract art. In his autobiography Ruckblick, he described that he returned to the studio in the evening and accidentally saw strange but beautiful pictures on the easel. "This painting lacks all the contents, depicts the indescribable things, and is completely composed of bright color blocks ... I find more and more clearly that objective description can't be accommodated in my picture, and objective description is actually harmful to the picture." He later learned that he had put down one of his paintings.

For Kandinsky, the triangle has its "special spiritual fragrance". "The acute angle of a triangle has no less influence on a circle than the fingers of God and Adam in Michelangelo's paintings." 192 1 year, his works for a period of time after returning to China have traces of his early influence. But in the end, he accepted more constructivist factors than gave them. His poetic nature shaped the art full of emotion and symbolism, which later became the basis of abstract expressionism at least in principle, as opposed to constructivism. Kandinsky is a romantic.

The concept of "pure" art form is manifested in several aspects. Cezanne provided cubism with the geometric basis of realistic art, although great works still came from it, as a theory, it soon disappeared. A clear and lasting theoretical basis of non-objective art will be announced in Russia, and then it will appear in the war of1914-1918 and its subsequent revolution.

After the revolution to 1920, the boundaries of artists in Moscow became clear. Although there is a lot of discussion, the discussion about artistic scheme and philosophy is very open. One view is that the art of work will serve the public, should be understood by all, and should use industrial materials and technology. This view was promoted by Tatlin, Rodchenko and later Lisicki. 19 19 lisicki once met malevich, but in the second year he turned to "objective" consciousness. In Gabor's eyes, Tatlin is not a thinker; He has neither ideological background nor corresponding training. However, he doesn't seem to be stupid in the experiment, and so does his technique. In an interview with 1956, snell, Pei's husband and wife, recalled that although Tatlin had a wide range of utilitarian theories, he never made any design that might be embarrassing. However, Tetlin and his assistants succeeded in closely linking their aesthetic concepts with Marxism, so that attacking them was like attacking doctrines. In fact, Tatlin's official position was so high that he was given the task of designing a huge third international monument.

Another view is those who regard non-objective art as pure free poetry ideologically, and this view is represented by Malevik. 19 15, he published the "Declaration of Supremacism". He has become a minor celebrity (he participated in the exhibition of blue rider School in Munich), and he described such a simple square that has never been seen in the world. He got the support of the Paff snell brothers, who ended their wartime exile and returned to Russia. 19 17, when they arrived in Moscow, snell naum changed his name to Gabor, that is, he made a spiritual declaration in 1920: "It is precisely our sole purpose to describe and shape art in the form of space and time ... We build our own works just like the structure of the universe itself. ..... when we create things, we abandon ... all accidents and parts, leaving only the eternal rhythm of its power. "

This is part of the Manifesto of Realism written by Gable, signed by pevsner, and posted on the wall of Moscow during the first political revolution and the climax of the civil war. It clearly defines extension and points out the possibility of non-objective art. It is far more suitable for sculpture than painting, so simple that its dogma is still useful for the next two generations. His traditions and obligations are still carried forward by contemporary artists.

The ambiguous title of this declaration led Soviet cultural officials to go astray. Officials allowed the manifesto to be printed on scarce paper simply because it was realistic. In fact, it is a declaration of constructivism, and this word is used in this paper. "Realism" is an important vocabulary in Russian, probably derived from the French word "realist", which means "realization". Gabor said that he knew what could be touched and felt and what was material, which was contrary to Malevik's metaphysical thought. "We all call ourselves constructors ... We build sculptures in space, not through sculptures and plastics ... We always use the word' realism' because we believe that everything we do shows a new reality."

Garbo always doubted the established value, and gradually formed his own artistic thoughts from 19 10. When he studied engineering in Munich, this interest always accompanied him. 19 12 years, gabor studied Wolfling's art history course. Under his touch, Gabor traveled to Italy full of mystery and hunger, and returned home in 19 14. When discussing art, his interest, knowledge and creativity left a deep impression on his family. Garbo is familiar with cubism and futurism, and thinks that neither is futuristic. He had contact with the Knights of Qing Yu in Munich on 19 13. In 19 12, Lalliaud's Novo, Goncharova and Malevich once exhibited with this group. However, he had never seen Kandinsky before Jiabo 19 17 returned to Russia. 19 13 read "On the Spirit of Art" and disagreed with all Kandinsky's theories about distinguishing colors by sound, although he liked Kandinsky's thoughts and Wolger's exposition, which were many things described by Kandinsky in "Abstraction and Empathy".