Aleksandr Rodchenko Presented by, Dave Frank 06 April 2004

Background  Born in St. Petersburg in 1891  Moved with his family to Zazan to study art from 1910 to 1914  Went to Moscow to study one more year of art

Art that Followed His Schooling  He was a part of the Russian avant-garde  He achieved breakthroughs in painting, sculpture, poster painting, textile designing, and photography  His artwork can be summed up as continual experimentation

Follower of Contructivism  After the Revolution he was one of the central figures in Russian art  Took lead role in the Contructivist movement which believed that art could bring about social change

Soviet Opposition to Constructivism  This art form based on Cubism and Futurism was denounced by the Russian government  The short lived art form was now being stopped by Stalin and a more propagandistic aesthetic replaced it

Lef Magizine  Between 1923 and 1928 Rodchenko was involved in the Lef Magazine  The Soviet Union would not support his art so he was told to stop taking photos for the magazine and to stick to purely documentary photographs

End of His Career  He could not take the harsh critics and the restrictions of Stalin  Spent the rest of his life in isolation  Died in Moscow in 1956

Chauffeur 1933

Pioneer 1930

On the telephone 1928

The poet Vladimir Mayakovsky 1924

Gathering for the demonstration in the courtyard of the VChUTEMAS 1928