El Lissitzky - Constructivism

El Lissitzky, or his full name Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, was a Russian artist, photographer, designer, typographer and architect. He was one of the influential members of the Russian Avant Garde and helped spread and grow suprematism, an art movement based on shapes and geometrical designs. He did this with the help of his mentor Kazimir Malevich, which he also produced propaganda and exhibition displays with. El Lissitzky was a fundamental part of the Bauhaus and Constructivism art movements in the 20th century.   He was born in 1890 in Pochinok, a small town which was roughly 30 miles from Smolensk, the former Russian Empire. Pochinok was mostly Jewish, which shaped Lissitzky’s life around the fact that he was Jewish. He spent most of his early life in Vitebsk, which is now part of Belarus, and then went to Smolensk Grammar School. At 13 he received advice from local Jewish artist Yehuda Pen, and at 15 was already teaching other students about different aspects of art from what he had learnt so far. He applied to Saint Peterberg but was rejected purely on the fact that they only allowed a certain amount of Jewish students into their university. This was decided by the Tsarist regime. He went to study in Germany, studying architectural engineering, and in the summer of 1912, he wandered around Europe, travelling from places like Paris and Italy. While he travelled, he learnt things everywhere he went and found out all sorts of things, from fine art to ancient Jewish culture. He was forced to return to his home after the outbreak of the First World War, and went through Switzerland and the Balkans. 
In my opinion I think EL Lissitzky was a fine artist and had a real knack for creating images and posters, and created them perfectly. I enjoy looking at a lot of his creations and I like to think that he shaped the design for the 20th century. 

These pieces created by El Lissitzky are very professional and in my opinion are excellent. The use of shapes and geometrical shaping really grabs the audiences attention, and you instantly see this. The image with the cube in the centre is a very well-known piece of El Lissitzky's, and is also one of my favourites. The reason I find it fascinating is because of the fact that it is so simple yet it looks so good. The image basically shows a triangle grid near the bottom of the image, with two lines protruding from the base of the triangle. The lines are curved and are two contrasting colours, red and blue. In between these lines is a cube, and the tip of the square is touching both the red and the blue line. The cube is in a simple perspective and has clear and effective shading. The base of the square is white, and the rest of it is white. The background of this image is a papyrus-colour and works very well, as he used this in many of his images. 

The second image works well because it is an arrangement of complex shapes and minimalism, which somehow tie in and look quite good in this image. The image basically shows a collection of different shapes and lines with different colours, and this is what attracts a viewer. The reason I saw this image was because of the bright red square within all the dark coloured lines and other shapes, as well as the same papyrus-coloured background which EL Lissitzky has used countless times. I also like the small stars in the top of the shapes, as the black and red stand out from the papyrus and also give the viewer a shape to which they can relate to, as everyone has seen a star before. Many of these shapes are quite unusual and quirky, and I think the reason a square was put in the centre was for people to notice that before noticing all the other shapes. The last image is also an arrangement of shapes and lines, but in this image it is accompanied by text, and this is a well-known piece of El Lissitzkys. It works quite well in gaining viewers and an audience, as the famous colour scheme of black white and red are being used in this image. Black white and red are very commonly used in a lot of practices within the art sector, so it is not unusual for an artist to create a piece of art using these colours. The first thing you see when this image grabs your attention is the giant  red triangle on the white background, accompanied by half of the image being black. Inside the black background is a white circle, which connects to the white half of the background. Trying to describe this piece is quite difficult, which is why simply looking at the image tells the entire story of what it is. The reason I like this image is the amount of shapes and different colours Lissitzky had to create, and the time it must have taken must have been very long. No two shapes are the same, and this is what i like most about this piece.