Constructivism was the last and most noteworthy modern art movement which surfaced in Russia from 1915 to the late 1930’s. Constructivism called for a careful technical investigation of modern materials, they them hoped that certain ideas would be yielded out of these artworks which could then be used to aid a Russian communist society focused on construction. Objects were to be created not to carry out the same purpose as any normal artwork, but to carry out a foundational investigation of the materials and forms of art, which they hoped would lead to functional objects. Constructivist art often aimed to indicate how materials behaved.
Old
Design for the Monument to the Third International (1919-1920)
Artist: Vladimir Tatlin
Artwork description & Analysis: Monument to the Third International, also sometimes known simply as Tatlin's Tower, is the artist's most famous work, as well as the most important spur to the formation of the Constructivist movement. The Tower, which was never fully realized, was intended to act as a fully functional conference space and propaganda center for the Communist Third International, or Comintern. Its steel spiral frame was to stand at 1,300 feet, making it the tallest structure in the world at the time - taller, and more functional—and therefore more beautiful by Constructivist standards—than the Eiffel Tower. There were to be three glass units, a cube, cylinder and cone, which would have different spaces for meetings, and these would rotate once per year, month, and day, respectively. For Tatlin, steel and glass were the essential materials of modern construction. They symbolized industry, technology and the machine age, and the constant motion of the geometrically shaped units embodied the dynamism of modernity. Although the tower was commissioned as a monument to revolution, and although it was given considerable prominence by the Bolshevik regime, it was never built, and it has continued to be an emblem of failed utopian aspirations for many generations of artists since.
Oil on canvas - Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
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scale model of Tatlin's Monument to the Third International
Scale model of Vladimir Tatlin's 1920 Monument to the Third International by Jeremy Dixon, 32.8 feet (10 metres) high, 2011; shown in the courtyard of the Royal Academy London.
