At the beginning of the twentieth century, one of the trends appeared in Russia, originating from modernism and called the āRussian avant-gardeā. Literally sounds like avant - āin frontā and garde - āguardā, but over time, the translation went through the so-called modernization and sounded like a āforward detachmentā. In fact, the founders of this movement were the French avant-garde artists of the 19th century, who advocated the denial of any foundations that are basic to all the times of the existence of art. The main goal of avant-garde artists was to deny the traditions and unwritten laws of artistic mastery.
Vanguard and its currents
The Russian avant-garde is a combination of Russian traditions with some techniques of Western European painting. In Russia, avant-garde artists are those who wrote in the style of abstractionism, suprematism, constructivism and cubofuturism. Actually, these four currents are the main directions of the avant-garde.
- When writing works, abstractionists attached special attention to color and form. Using them, they created a number of associations. The founder of this trend in Russia was V. Kandinsky, and over time he was supported by K. Malevich, M. Larionov, N. Goncharova.
- Developing the ideas of abstractionism, K. Malevich created another trend - Suprematism. The first canvas of this movement is Black Square. When creating a picture, the combination of shapes and colors is brought to the fore. The ideas of Suprematism were clearly expressed in the works by avant-garde artists O. Rozanov, I. Klyun, A. Exter, N. Udaltsova.
- Constructivism is based on the ideas of the image of production and technology. The founders of this trend are the avant-garde artists of the 20th century V. Tatlin and E. Lissitzky.
- The mixture of French cubism and Italian futurism gave rise to another trend: cubofuturism. The works performed in this style were distinguished by abstract shapes and a combination of colors that were not familiar to paintings of those times. The vivid representatives of cubofuturism were the Russian avant-garde artists K. Malevich, O. Rozanova, N. Goncharova, N. Udaltsova, L. Popova, A. Exter.
Artistic features and aesthetic
The avant-garde movement is characterized by some features that distinguish it from other areas:
- Avant-garde artists welcome any social change, such as revolution.
- The flow is characterized by a certain duality, for example, rationalism and irrationality.
- Recognition, admiration and admiration for scientific and technological progress.
- New forms, techniques and tools not previously used in the art world.
- The complete rejection of the fine art of the VIII century.
- Denial or recognition of traditions, established foundations in painting.
- Experiments with shapes, colors and shades.
Vasily Kandinsky
All avant-garde artists of the 20th century are the "children" of Vasily Kandinsky, who became the founder of the avant-garde in Russia. All his work is divided into 3 stages:
- In the Munich period, Kandinsky works on landscapes, creating such masterpieces as The Blue Horseman, Gateway, Gulf Coast in Holland, and The Old Town.
- Moscow period. The most famous paintings of this period are "Amazon" and "Amazon in the mountains."
- Bauhaus and Paris. The circle is used more and more often in comparison with other geometric figures, and shades gravitate towards cold and calm tones. The works of this period are āLittle Dream in Redā, āComposition VIIIā, āSmall Worldsā, āYellow Soundā, āBizarreā.
Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich was born in February 1879 in Kiev in a Polish family. For the first time as an artist, he tried himself at the age of 15 when he was presented with a set of paints. Since then, for Malevich there was no more important thing than painting. But parents did not share the hobbies of their son and insisted on getting a more serious and profitable profession. Therefore, Malevich entered the agronomic school. Having moved to Kursk in 1896, he makes acquaintance with Lev Kvachevsky, an artist who advises Casimir to go to study in Moscow. Unfortunately, Malevich was twice unable to enter the Moscow School of Painting. He began to learn mastery from Rerberg, who not only taught the young artist, but also took care of him in every possible way: organized exhibitions of his works, presented him to the public. Both early and late works of K. Malevich are pomp and emotionality. Like other Russian avant-garde artists of the 20th century, he combines decency and indecency in his works, but all paintings are united by irony and thoughtfulness. In 1915, Malevich presented to the public a series of paintings in the style of the avant-garde, the most famous of which is Black Square. Among the many works, both fans and avant-garde artists singled out āSome maliciousā, āRest. Society in Cylinders ā,ā Sisters ā,ā Lingerie on the Fence ā,ā Torso ā,ā Gardener ā,ā Church ā,ā Two Dryads ā,ā Cubo-Futuristic Composition ā.
Mikhail Larionov
He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. His mentors were such famous painters as Korovin, Levitan and Serov. In the early works of Larionov, there are notes characteristic of the works of Nesterov and Kuznetsov, which are by no means avant-garde artists and their paintings are not related to this trend. Larionov is also characteristic of such trends as folk art, primitivism. Military notes slip through, for example, āResting Soldiersā and the theory of ideal beauty, illuminated in the paintings āVenusā and āKatsapskaya Venusā. Like other Soviet avant-garde artists, Larionov took part in the exhibition "Donkey's Tail" and "Jack of Diamonds."
Natalya Goncharova
Initially, Goncharova studied sculpture and only eventually switched to painting. Her first mentor was Korovin, and during this period she pleased the exhibitions with her paintings in the spirit of impressionism. Then she was attracted by the themes of peasant art and the traditions of different peoples and eras. This was the reason for the appearance of such paintings as āEvangelistsā, āHarvesting breadā, āMotherā, āRound danceā. And the paintings āOrchidsā and āRadiant Liliesā became the embodiment on canvas of the idea of āāimmortal art
Olga Rozanova
Like most artists, Rozanova after graduation fell under the influence of other painters. Avant-garde artists introduced a young talented girl to public life, and over 10 years of her work, she participated in a large number of exhibitions and designed a lot of books and productions. Rozanova went through several stages of creativity, changed styles and directions.
Ivan Klyunkov (Klyun)
Ivan Klyunās career changed dramatically after meeting with Malevich. Even before meeting with him, the artist studied French painting and visited the exhibition āJack of Diamondsā. After a fateful meeting, Klyun replenishes his collection with the paintings āGramophoneā, āPitcherā and āRunning Landscapeā. The artist performed later works in the style of figurative painting, creating portraits, genre compositions, still lifes, illustrations.
Alexandra Exter
Exter became an artist thanks to a trip to Paris, where fate brought her to such world-famous artists as Picasso, Jacob, Braque, Apollinaire, among whom were avant-garde artists.
After the trip, Exter began to write in the Impressionist style and the result of the work was the painting "Still Life with a Vase and Flowers" and "Three Female Figures." Over time, pointillism and cubism began to appear in the works. Alexandra presented her paintings at exhibitions. Later, the artist devoted a lot of time to pointless compositions and painting screens, lampshades, pillows, as well as the design of theatrical productions.
Vladimir Tatlin
Tatlin began to study at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and then at the Penza Art School. But due to frequent omissions and poor academic performance, he was expelled without ever receiving a diploma. In 1914, Tatlin already exhibited his work at the exhibition āJack of Diamondsā and āDonkey's Tailā. Basically, his paintings are associated with fishing weekdays. An important role in the change of direction is played by the meeting with Picasso: it was after her that Tatlin began to create in the style of Cubism and in the style of āLarion's influenceā. His creations reflected structures made of wood and iron and became fundamental for the constructivist movement in the Russian avant-garde.
El Lissitzky
For the first time, Lissitzky came up tightly with painting in the Jewish Society for the Promotion of the Arts, where he worked since 1916. At that time, he not only illustrated Jewish publications, but also actively participated in exhibitions held in Moscow and Kiev. The authorās works harmoniously combine handwritten scrolls and worldly graphics. Upon arrival in Vitebsk, Lisitsky is fond of pointless creativity, draws up books and posters. The brainchild of Ale is the āpro-holesā - three-dimensional figures that are the basis for furniture production even today.
Lyubov Popova
Like most artists, Popova went through a multi-stage path of formation: her early works were done in the style of Cezannism, and then features of cubism, Fauvism and futurism appeared. Popova perceived the world as a large still life and transferred it to the canvas in the form of graphic images. Love paid special attention to the sound of colors. This distinguished her work from the work of Malevich. Being engaged in the design of theatrical productions, Popova used the art deco style, which harmoniously combined avant-garde and modern. It was typical for the artist to combine incongruous, for example, cubism with the Renaissance and Russian icon painting.
The role of Russian avant-garde in history
Many of the achievements of avant-garde artists are still used in contemporary art, despite the fact that the avant-garde itself as a current did not exist for very long. The main reason for its collapse lies in the many directions that avant-garde artists created. The avant-garde as an art made it possible to develop the photo and film industry, allowed to develop new forms, approaches and solutions in solving artistic problems.