Art before the early 1920’s was “old-fashioned” compared to new art movements called Constructivism. This type of art was said to be the future of art. This type of art contained new tools, new style and artists who wanted to move forward. The main goal of this art was to spring the people of Russia into the future. Many artists began to create interesting art without the use of paint. One of these artists was EL Lissitzky. He created numerous types of constructivism. The meaning of his art work is what made his art so popular. It was more than just a feeling, but a movement towards the future. Lissitzky’s constructivist works all give a slight remembrance of the past, while showing revolutionary changes of the future. This was his ultimate goal. . His art was always set to have a revolutionary meaning. How does this picture describe that?
El Lissitzky created numerous amounts of constructivist art in the early 1900’s. One of his more popular pieces of art is “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge” made in 1919. In this work, El Lissitsky demonstrates a huge red triangle that pierces into a white circle, which creates the center of attention. Throughout the whole picture, red black and white is evenly distributed while showing a slight grey shade near the middle of the picture. This picture creates a spiritual movement of geometric shapes. Geometric shapes move through the picture creating war. This is a two-dimensional picture in which the colors create the shapes. In other words, the black portion of the painting cuts the picture in half while having a round white center that creates a meaningful circle and also the center of attention. Triangular shaped red lines appear throughout the picture that gives a piercing effect. Also Lissitsky puts numerous letters into the picture. The letters appear in black white and red. In this picture Lissitsky creates a movement with the red wedge into the white circle
In El Lissitzky’s constructivists picture “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge.” Every piece of the picture shows some type of meaning of revolution.
In this photo Lissitzky creates a white background that depicts a bright future. This picture represents the red and white Russians who fought in the war. The red wedge is a representation of the red army, and also the side who El Lissitzky wanted to be victorious in the war. This picture is a reminder of the war before the revolution. The red focuses were the Revolutionary fighters were. The white focuses were the old tsarist army they fought against. The little red geometric shapes all represent the red army also. They represent pieces of the army or smaller groups. These red geometric shapes all give a movement throughout the picture. They pierce forward into the white circle. It is obvious that the red army is triumphant in this battle by viewing the picture. The red triangles look as though they are taking over. In this photo, simple shapes make clear picture of what is going on. This was the goal of constructivist art. El Lissitsky was able to make express a feeling emotion or opinion by simply applying geometric shapes to his picture.
Works Cited
“20thCentury Promised Land…” , El Lissitzky. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://astradyne.tumblr.com/post/15843642553/el-lissitzky-beat-the-whites-with-the-red-wedge>.
Utopia/Dystopia 