ISSN: 2158-7051 ==================== INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RUSSIAN STUDIES ==================== ISSUE NO. 6 ( 2017/1 ) |
“THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE AND RADICAL MODERNISM” An
Introductory Reader, By Ayse Dietrich*,
Published by: Academic Studies Press, Boston. Edited by
Dennis G. Ioffe and Frederich
H. White. Year of Publishing: 2012. Subject Area: Literature. Book Type:
Literature, Literary Criticism, Literary History. Total Number of Pages: 486.
ISBN: 978-1-936235-29-2
This book is a collection
of articles on the Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism which give the
reader a historical perspective on the last phase of the modernist creative
history of the Russian Avant-Garde. Divided into six chapters, this
collaborative work begins with a section that provides background information
on the Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism.
In the first two decades of
the 20th century developments in Russia created a climate favorable
to revolutionary ideas which, in turn, helped stimulate the development of an
artistic avante-garde. Rapid industrialization in the
period after the failed revolution of 1905 created economic and social
conditions in Russia that were similar to those found in the industrial, urban
societies of Western Europe. These new conditions helped foster interest in artistic developments in Western Europe and
resulted in Russian artists being influenced by progressive ideas from Germany,
France and Italy.
Symbolism, seeking a new
spiritualism and hidden realities, was the first phase of European modernism,
and its influence in Russian can be found in the writings of Maximilian Voloshin, Valery Briusov, Mikhail
Kuzmin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky,
Aleksandr Blok, Vyacheslan
Ivanov, and Andrey Bely. However, the initial radical phase of the Russian
Avant-Garde and Modernist movement is seen in Futurism and Cubism. Emerging
from Italy, international futurism had an indirect influence on the development
of Russian Futurism, as seen in the works of the Russian Avant-Garde poets
Vladimir Mayakovsky and Velimir
Khlebnikov. Seeking to shock the middle class into
making changes in society and politics, Russian Futurists pursued a radical
agenda in their public activities. One result of the futurists’ efforts to
integrate new art forms that were compatible with daily life in a revolutionary
culture into their vision of an innovative society was that they rejected
revered Russian cultural icons such as Pushkin, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy.
For the Russian avant-garde
the tumultuous period between 1914 to 1917, marked by social
and political upheaval, marked its apex. Among the major artistic
movements of this time were Rayonism, Cubo-Futurism, Suprematism and Constructivism.
The first of these
movements, Rayonism, was a radical development of
abstractionism and made its appearance in 1911. Inspired by Marinetti’s
lectures in Moscow on Futurism, Mikhail Larionov and
Natalia Goncharova combined the forms used in Cubism,
the dynamic movement of Futurism and Orphism’s use of color to create Rayonism.
The following year, 1912,
saw the emergence of Cubo-Futurism, a movement
advocated by such artists as Alexander
Archipenko, the Brothers Burliuk, Alexandra Ekster, Natalia Goncharova, Ivan Klyun, Mikhail Larionov, Lyubov’ Popova and Olga Rozanova.
Cubo-Futuristic art is characterized by the
intersection of spatial planes, the alteration of contours, the contrast of colour and texture, the alteration
of contours, the breaking down of forms and the displacement or fusion of
various viewpoints.
In 1914 the painter and art
theoretician Kazimir Malevich established Suprematism, regarded as an important movement of the
Russian Avant-Garde. Suprematist paintings are
characterized by formless, geometrical abstraction.
The last of the Russian
Avant-Garde movements was Constructivism which emerged in 1921. Strongly
influenced by both Futurism and European Cubism, the principles of
Constructivism are seen in both architectural design and art. Constructivists
were intrigued with technology, geometrical objects, machines, industrial
materials etc. Some of the major proponents of Constructivism were Naum Gabo, El Lissitzky, Ivan Leonidov, Konstantin Melnikov,
Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Vesnin.
Many of these movements of
the Russian Avant-Garde came to be seen as examples of decadent bourgeois art
when Socialist Realism was adopted as state policy in 1932. Since proletarian
civilization was expected to produce its own culture, following the state’s artistic principles meant that Russian radical
modernists would have to abandon their own artistic production.
The Russian Avant-Garde
movement’s final representive was the OBERIU-group,
made up of underground poets and writers. Members of the group were forbidden
to publish or distribute their works; for example, the only works by Daniil Kharms that were published by the Soviet press were his
children’s books.
In the second section of
the book the second chapter Hylaea from
Vladimir Markov’s book Russian Futurism is
discussed. This section introduces the Hylaea group
which was initiated at the end of 1912 by David Burliuk
and his brothers. Later Vasily Kamensky,Velimir Khlebnikov, Aleksey
Kruchenykh, Vladimir
Mayakovsky, Mikhail Larionov, Natalia
Goncharova, Kazimir Malevich, and Olga Rozanova join
this group; and they issue a manifesto entitled A Slap in the Face of Public
Taste (Poshchechina
obshchestvennomu vkusu).
The Hylaea
section also includes sub-sections which deal with the Russian Futurist poet Velimir Khlebnikov characterized as
a timid Futurist; the Russian Futurist poet Mayakovsky
as Literary Critic who saw the Futurist art as the new art of the new
proletarian state; translated texts of Russian Futurist Vasilii
Kandinsky, Natalya Goncharova, David Burliuk, Ilya Zdanevich, Mikhail Larionov, Kazimir Malevich, El Lissistzky and program declaration of KOMFUT and analysis
of the Russian Futurism David Burliuk, Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov.
The third section encompasses
Russian Supremativism and Constructivism and includes
sub-sections Kazimir Malevich and his creative path;
Constructivism and Productivism in the 1920s; the
birth of Socialist Realism from the spirit of the Russian Avant-garde and Russian
art of Avant-Garde translated texts.
In the fourth section the last
Russian Avant-Garde OBERIU Circle, Daniil Kharms, Aleksandr Vvedensky and some philisophical positions in some OBERIU texts are introduced.
The
fifth section is devoted to Russian experimental performance and theater which
included the Vsevolod Meyerhold, the
Culture of Experiment in Russian Theatrical Modernism in the OBERIU Theater and
the Biomechanics of Vsevolod Meyerhold.
The
sixth section Avant-Garde Cinematography includes Eisenstein’s Biography, an analysis of Vertov’s Three Songs of Lenin as a Stalinist Film.
At the end of the book
there is a Concluding Addendum which discusses the tradition of experimentation in Russian culture and
the Russian Avant-Garde.
This introductory book provides comprehensive analysis of
the radical artistic movement Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism,
included well written biographical articles, critical analyses and collected samples
of the
Russian Avant-Garde and Modernism. It is a remarkable resource for not only
researchers but also students who study Russian literature and culture,
particularly the movement Russian Avant-Garde and Modernism.
*Ayse Dietrich - Professor, Part-time, at Middle East Technical University, Department of History. Editor and the founder of the International Journal of Russian Studies. e-mail: editor@ijors.net, dayse@metu.edu.tr, dietrichayse@yahoo.com
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