Constructivism

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Second Spring Exhibition of OBMOKhU, Moscow, May-June 1921. Constructions by Alexander Rodchenko, Konstantin Medunetsky, Karl Ioganson, Georgii Stenberg and Vladimir Stenberg; two have been preserved: Medunetsky's Spatial Construction and Rodchenko's Oval Hanging Spatial Construction no. 12.
A timeline of constructivism from Bann 1974: xviii.

A resource on constructivism, focusing primarily on the movement in Russia and east-central Europe from the late 1910s through the 1930s.

The page contains an overview of major exhibitions and catalogues, selection of works, list of (digitised) magazines, pamphlets and books, anthologies of texts (also merged into a single table), historical studies and analyses, and profiles of artists, theorists and groups.

First published 25 September 2015.

Events[edit]

Exhibition catalogues[edit]

Some of the catalogues are available online, follow PDF links in captions.

Exhibitions, conferences[edit]

Second Spring Exhibition of OBMOKhU, Moscow, May-Jun 1921.
Congress of International Progressive Artists, Düsseldorf, May 1922. L-R: unknown boy, Werner Graeff, Raoul Hausmann, Theo van Doesburg, Cornelis van Eesteren, Hans Richter, Nelly van Doesburg, unknown (De Pistoris?), El Lissitzky, Ruggero Vasari, Otto Freundlich (?), Hannah Höch, Franz Seiwert and Stanislav Kubicki.
Congress of the Constructivists and Dadaists, Weimar, Sep 1922. Top-bottom L-R: 1st row: Lucia Moholy, Alfréd Kemény, László Moholy-Nagy. 2nd row: Lotte Burchartz, El Lissitzky, Cornelis van Eesteren, Bernhard Sturtzkopf. 3rd row: Max Burchartz, Harry Scheibe, Theo van Doesburg (with paper hat), Hans Vogel, Peter Röhl. 4th row: Alexa Röhl, Nelly van Doesburg, Tristan Tzara, Sophie Taeuber, Hans Arp. 5th row: Werner Graeff and Hans Richter. Stedelijk.
  • Constructivists [Конструктивисты] exhibition in Moscow, January 1922. Stenberg brothers and Medunetsky show 61 constructivist works and publish a catalogue with manifesto. [2]
  • The Congress of International Progressive Artists [Kongress der Union Internationaler Fortschrittlicher Künstler] in Düsseldorf on 29-31 May 1922. Formation of the International Faction of Constructivists was organised by van Doesburg (representing the journal De Stijl), Richter (representing 'the Constructivist groups of Romania, Switzerland, Scandinavia and Germany') and Lissitzky (representing the editorial board of Veshch'-Gegenstand-Objet). The faction's declaration was later published in De Stijl (no. 4, 1922).
  • Congress of the Constructivists and Dadaists, Weimar, 25-26 September 1922.
  • The First Russian Art Exhibition [Erste russische Kunstausstellung] opened at Galerie van Diemen in Berlin on 15 October 1922, with over 1,000 objects by c180 artists: 237 paintings, more than 500 graphic works, sculptures, as well as designs for theater, architectural models, and porcelain. The exhibition's official host was the Russian Ministry for Information, and it was put together by the artists Gabo, David Sterenberg, and Nathan Altman. Version of the exhibition later travelled to Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in April-May 1923.
  • New Art Exhibition [Wystawa Nowej Sztuki], organised by Strzemiński and Kairiūkštis in Vilnius on May-June 1923. The works included painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, scenography, and print; cubist, constructivist, and suprematist compositions predominated. The 7 exhibiting artists went on to form the Blok collective.
  • The Block of Cubists, Constructivists and Supermatists [Blok Kubistów, Suprematystów i Konstruktywistów], an exhibition of Blok at the Laurin & Clement car dealer's shop in Warsaw, March 1924. Works by 9 artists.
  • First Zenit International Exhibition of New Art [Прва Зенитова међународна изложба нове уметности], organised by Micić in April 1924 in Belgrade. Featured one hundred works advertised as "futurism, cubism, expressionism, ornamental cubism, suprematism, constructivism, neoclassicism and the like".
  • The First Contimporanul International Exhibition organised by Contimporanul magazine in November 1924 in Bucharest brought together the Romanian avant-garde along with international artists.
  • The a.r. International Collection of Modern Art, donated by a.r. group to the Municipal Museum of History and Art (now Museum of Art; Museum Sztuki) in Łódź, opened to the public in February 1931. It included 111 works and represented - as no other contemporary European collection had done - the main movements of avant-garde art, from Cubism, Futurism and Constructivism, through Purism and Surrealism, to Neo-Plasticism, Unism and Formism.
  • The Constructivists [Die Konstruktivisten] exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel, Jan-Feb 1937. Poster. Review.
Retrospective exhibitions
  • Constructivism in Poland 1923-1936: BLOK, Praesens, a.r., Museum Folkwang, Essen, May-Jun 1973. Also shown in Otterlo/NL 1973; Stockholm 1975-76, New York 1976 [3], Detroit 1976, Buffalo 1976, Montreal 1977, Rome 1979, Genoa 1979, Venice 1979, Belgrade 1979, Zagreb 1979, Cambridge 1984, London 1984, Oxford 1984, Budapest 1990, Washington 1993. [4]
  • Konstruktywizm w Polsce 1923-1936, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź, May 1978, Catalogue.
  • The Planar Dimension: Europe, 1912-1932, Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1979. Curated by Margit Rowell. Catalogue published.
  • Europa, Europa. Das Jahrhundert der Avantgarde in Mittel- und Osteuropa, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, 27 May - 16 October 1994. Large-scale exhibition with constructivist section. 4-volume catalogue published.
  • Central European Avant-Gardes, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2002. Curated by Timothy O. Benson. Large-scale exhibition with constructivist section. Catalogue published: TOC.
  • Von Kandinsky bis Tatlin: Konstruktivismus in Europa/From Kandinsky to Tatlin: Constructivism in Europe, Staatliches Museum, Schwerin, and Kunstmuseum, Bonn, 2006. Catalogue published.

Paintings, constructions, designs, models (selection)[edit]

Film[edit]

Magazines[edit]

Artists, groups, theorists[edit]

Books and pamphlets of theory and criticism[edit]

  • Naum Gabo (Н. Габо), Nathan Pevsner (Нотон Певзнер), Realisticheskii manifest [Реалистический манифест], Moscow: Second State Printing House, 5 Aug 1920, 1 sheet (58.8x73.6 cm — edition of 5000). Manuscript. Issued as a poster to accompany the artists' joint open-air exhibition on Tverskoie Boulevard. Points out the limitations of cubism and futurism, outlining the principles for a new sculptural technique; in the 1923 version for G compressed into four points: the importance of life as the starting point for art, the emphasis on space and time, the rejection of mass, and the espousal of kinetic rhythms as a means of expressing time. Written by Gabo, signed also by Pevzner. Issued as a poster to accompany the artists' joint open-air exhibition on Tverskoie Boulevard, which opened 6 Aug. In a note written ca. in the 1970s, Gabo stated that the manifesto poster was stuck up all over Moscow by students from the Vkhutemas (at this point still the Free Studios) on the second day of the exhibition, 7 Aug. 1967 recording of Gabo reading the manifesto. Discussed in Lodder 1983: 38-40, Khan-Magomedov 1996 (RU). (Russian)
    • "The Realistic Manifesto", trans. Naum Gabo, in Gabo: Constructions, Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Engravings, London: Lund Humphries, 1957, pp 151-152; repr. in The Tradition of Constructivism, ed. Stephen Bann, New York: Viking Press, 1974, pp 5-11; repr. in Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism, 1902-1934, ed. John E. Bowlt, New York: Viking Press, 1976, pp 208-214; repr. in Art in Theory, 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, eds. Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, Blackwell, 1992, pp 297-299. (English)
    • more translations
  • Aleksei Gan (Алексей Ган), Konstruktivizm [Конструктивизм], Tver: Tverskoe izdatelstvo, Summer 1922, 70 pp (23,5х19,9 cm — edition of 2000). (Russian)
    • "Constructivism" [Extracts], trans. John Bowlt, in The Tradition of Constructivism, ed. Stephen Bann, New York: Viking Press, 1974, pp 32-42; repr. in Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism, 1902-1934, ed. & trans. John E. Bowlt, New York: Viking Press, 1976, pp 214-225; repr. in Art in Theory, 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, eds. Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, Blackwell, 1992, pp 318-320. (English)
    • Constructivism, trans. & intro. Christina Lodder, Barcelona: Tenov Books, 2014, xciii+77 pp. [5]. Reviews: Rees (RAC), Taplin (RBTH), Hatherley (Radical Phil), Rosenfeld (SEER), Milner (Slavic Rev). (English)
    • more translations
  • Moisei Ginzburg (М.Я. Гинзбург), Stil' i epokha [Стиль и эпоха. Проблемы современной архитектуры], Moscow: Gosizdat, 1924, 238 pp; repr., Moscow: Strelka, 2021, 222 pp. Excerpts. Commentary: Khan-Magomedov (1996). [6] [7] [8] (Russian)
    • Style and Epoch, intro. & trans. Anatole Senkevitch, Jr., forew. Kenneth Frampton, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (Oppositions Books), 1982, 159 pp. Published for the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts Chicago, Ill. and the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies New York, N.Y. (English)
    • Style and Epoch: Issues in Modern Architecture, trans. John Nicolson, eds. Mark Sutcliffe and Frank Althaus, London: Fontanka, and Ginzburg Design, 2018, 238 pp. [9] (English)
    • more translations
  • Yakov Chernikhov (Яков Чернихов), Konstruktsiya arkhitekturnykh i mashinnykh form [Конструкция архитектурных и машинных форм; The Construction of Architectural and Mechanical Forms], intro. Erik Fedorovich Gollerbakh, Leningrad: Ob-vo arkhitektorov, 1931, 232+[2] pp (30х21,3 cm — edition of 5150). (Russian)
  • Katarzyna Kobro, Władysław Strzemiński, Kompozycja przestrzeni. Obliczenia rytmu czasoprzestrzennego [Spatial Composition: Calculating the Spacetime Rhythm], Łódź: a.r. (Biblioteka a.r., 2), 1931, 79+[32] pp; repr., intro. Janusz Zagrodzki, Łódź: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Książki, 1974; repr., Łódź: Muzeum Sztuki, 1993. Excerpt. (Polish)

Anthologies, readers, sourcebooks[edit]

Constructivismo, 1973, PDF. (Spanish)
Stephen Bann (ed.), The Tradition of Constructivism, ed. Stephen Bann, 1974, Log, PDF.
Books
  • Constructivismo, trans. F. Fernández Buey, Madrid: Alberto Corazón, 1973, viii+374 pp. Twenty-nine texts by Soviet authors in 3+1 sections. (Spanish)
  • The Tradition of Constructivism, ed. & intro. Stephen Bann, New York: Viking Press, 1974, xlix+334 pp, PDF; repr., New York: Da Capo, 1990, xlix+334 pp, OL. Fifty-one texts from 1920-65 in 7 sections. Review: Compton (SR 1975). (English)
  • Le constructivisme russe. I. Les arts plastiques. II. Le constructivisme littéraire, 2 vols., ed. & intro. Gérard Conio, trans. Gérard Conio and Larissa Yakoupova, Lausanne: L'Age l'Homme, 1987, 482 & 228 pp. [10] [11] [12] [13] Review: Sola (RES 1988). (French)
  • Art Into Life: Russian Constructivism, 1914-1932, eds. & intro. Richard Andrews and Milena Kalinovska, New York: Rizzoli, 1990, 276 pp. Twenty-five texts. TOC. (English)
Book sections
  • "Neo-plasticism and Constructivism: Abstract and Nonobjective Art", ch 6 in Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book by Artists and Critics, ed. Herschel Browning Chipp, University of California Press, 1968, pp 309-365. (English)
  • "Constructivism and the Industrial Arts", ch. 5 in Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism, 1902-1934, ed. John E. Bowlt, New York: Viking Press, 1976, pp 205-261. Twelve short texts by Soviet authors from 1920-31. (English)
  • "Constructivismo y realismo en Rusia", ch. 12 in Escritos de arte de vanguardia 1900/1945, eds. Francisco Calvo Serraller, Simón Marchán Fiz and Ángel González García, Madrid: Turner, 1979; Madrid: Akal, 1999; 2009, pp 285-352. [14]. (Spanish)
  • "Utility and Construction", ch. IIId in Art in Theory 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, eds. Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, Blackwell, 1992, pp 308-330. Twelve short texts by Soviet authors from 1919-24. (English)
  • "Konstruktivismus", ch. in Europa, Europa. Das Jahrhundert der Avantgarde in Mittel- und Osteuropa, 3, ed. Hubertus Gassner, Bonn, 1994, pp 190-225. Thirty-six short texts by central and eastern European authors from 1920-36. (German)
  • in Między sztuką a komuną: teksty awangardy rosyjskiej, 1910-1932, ed. Andrzej Turowski, Kraków: Universitas, 1998. (Polish)
  • "International Constructivism in Germany and Austria" (ch. 7) & "International Constructivism in Central Europe" (ch. 8), in Between Worlds: A Sourcebook of Central European Avant-Gardes, 1910-1930, eds. Timothy O. Benson and Éva Forgács, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2002, pp 385-486 & 487-603. Fourty-four & fifty-four texts from 1920-28 in 10 sections. (English)
  • "Kino-Pravda and Constructivism", ch. 3 in Lines of Resistance: Dziga Vertov and the Twenties, ed. & intro. Yuri Tsivian, trans. Julian Graffy, Gemona: Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, 2004, pp 55-65. Six texts. [15] (English)
  • "Konstruktivizm", ch. in Tri veka russkoy metapoetiki: Legitimatsiya diskursa, 3 [Три века русской метапоэтики: Легитимация дискурса, 3], ed. K.E. Shtayn, Stavropol: Izdatelstvo Stavropolskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2006, pp 475-644. Forty-nine texts of literary constructivism. (Russian)
  • "Constructivismul", Manifestele avantgardei rusei, ed. Leo Butnaru, Bucharest: Biblioteca Bucureştilor, 2012, pp 186-195. Four texts by Soviet authors from 1922-28. (Romanian)
  • "Russian Suprematism and Constructivism", trans. John E. Bowlt, ch. 3 in The Russian Avant-Garde and Radical Modernism: An Introductory Reader, eds. Dennis G. Ioffe and Frederick H. White, Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2012, pp 277-293. Three texts by Soviet authors from 1920-23. (English)

Anthologised texts[edit]

A collection of texts from selected English-language anthologies (ToC = Bann 1974, RAA = Bowlt 1976, AiT = Harrison & Wood 1992, BW = Benson & Forgács 2002, LoR = Tsivian 2004). Links in the fourth column lead to versions of the texts as they appear in the anthologies, together with editorial introductions. The last column represents themes. Most of the columns are sortable.

Author Yr Title Bk Th
KOMFUT 1919 Program Declaration RAA, AiT Ru
Tatlin 1919 The Initiative Individual in the Creativity of the Collective AiT Ru
Popova 1919 statement in the catalogue of the Tenth State Exhibition RAA, AiT Ru
Gabo; Pevsner 1920 The Realistic Manifesto ToC, RAA, AiT Ru
Tatlin; Shapiro; Meyerzon; Vinogradov 1920 The Work Ahead of Us ToC, RAA Ru
Punin 1920 The Monument to the Third International ToC, AiT Ru
1920 Program of the Productivist Group ToC Ru
Filippov 1921 Production Art ToC Ru
Toporkov 1921 Technological and Artistic Form ToC Ru
Rodchenko 1921 'Slogans' and 'Organizational Programme' of the Workshop for the Study of Painting in State Art Colleges AiT Ru
Gan 1922 from Constructivism ToC, RAA, AiT Ru
Pertsov 1922 At the Junction of Art and Production RAA Ru
Rodchenko; Stepanova 1922 Programme of the First Working Group of Constructivists AiT Ru
Arvatov 1922 The Proletariat and Leftist Art RAA Ru
Arvatov 1923 from Art and Class ToC Ru
Arvatov 1923 Materialized Utopia ToC Ru
Brik 1923 Into Production! ToC Ru
Brik 1923 The So-called 'Formal Method' AiT Ru
LEF 1923 Whom Is LEF Alerting? ToC, AiT Ru
Tatlin 1923 On Zangezi ToC Ru
Lissitzky; Ehrenburg 1922 The Blockade of Russia Is Coming to an End ToC Ru
Gan 1922 The Tenth Kino-Pravda LoR RuCi
Gan 1922 The Thirteenth Experiment LoR RuCi
LEF 1923 The Constructivists LoR RuCi
Kino 1923 Kino-Pravda LoR RuCi
Izvestiia 1924 Goskino and the Capturing of Daily Life LoR RuCi
Gan 1924 Recognition for the Kinocs LoR RuCi
1922 A Short Review of the Proceedings ToC, BW CIPA
Lissitzky; Ehrenberg 1922 Statement by the Editors of Veshch/Gegenstand/Objet ToC, AiT CIPA
van Doesburg 1922 Statement by the Stijl Group ToC CIPA
Richter 1922 Statement by the Constructivist Groups of Rumania, Switzerland, Scandinavia, and Germany ToC CIPA
van Doesburg; Lissitzky; Richter 1922 Statement by the International Faction of Constructivists ToC, BW CIPA
Kubicki, et al. 1922 Manifesto of the Commune BW CIPA
Kubicki, et al. 1922 Second Manifesto of the Commune BW CIPA
Berlewi 1922 The International Exhibition in Düsseldorf BW CIPA
Kassák, et al. 1922 The Stand Taken by the Vienna Ma Group Toward the First Düsseldorf Congress of Progressive Artists BW CIPA
Shterenberg 1922 Foreword in the Catalogue of the First Exhibition of Russian Art ToC RuExh
Holitscher 1922 Statement ToC RuExh
1922 from Introduction to Catalogue of the First Exhibition of Russian Art ToC RuExh
Westheim 1922 The Exhibition of Russian Artists BW RuExh
Behne 1922 On the Russian Exhibition BW RuExh
Kassák 1922 The Russian Exhibit in Berlin BW RuExh
Kallai 1923 The Russian Exhibition in Berlin BW RuExh
Kemeny 1923 Notes to the Russian Artists' Exhibition in Berlin BW RuExh
Poljanski 1923 Through the Russian Exhibition in Berlin BW RuExh
Kassák 1920 To the Artists of All Nations! BW ExVie
1920 The Provisional Int'l Moscow Bureau of Creative Artists, Questions to the Hungarian Activists, and their Reply BW ExVie
Kallai 1921 Moholy-Nagy BW ExVie
Kallai 1921 Lajos Kassák BW ExVie
Kassák 1922 Picture-Architecture BW ExVie
Uitz 1922 The Great Festival in Moscow BW ExVie
Kallai 1923 Constructivism BW ExVie
Kallai 1923 Correction (to the Attention of De Stijl) BW ExVie
Kallai, et al. 1923 Manifesto BW ExVie
Lissitzky 1924 The Electro-Mechanical Show BW ExVie
Walden 1924 Theater as an Artistic Phenomenon BW ExVie
Gaspar 1924 The Hungarian Activist Movement BW ExVie
Hausmann; Arp; Puni; Moholy-Nagy 1921 A Call for Elementarist Art ToC, BW Ber
Mattis-Teutsch 1921 statement from Der Sturm catalogue BW Ber
Moholy-Nagy; Kemeny 1922 Dynamic-Constructive System of Forces BW Ber
Hausmann; Peri 1922 Aims of the Pre??? Theater BW Ber
Berlewi 1922-23 The Arts Abroad BW Ber
Kemeny 1923 Constructivist Art and Peri's Spatial Constructions BW Ber
Eggeling; Hausmann 1923 Second Presentist Declaration - Addressed to the International Constructivists BW Ber
Kemeny 1923 The Dynamic Principle of Cosmic Construction, as Related to the Functional Significance of Constructive Design BW Ber
Kemeny 1924 Abstract Design from Suprematism to the Present BW Ber
Richter 1924 G ToC Ber
Hilberseimer 1924 Construction and Form ToC Ber
Richter 1924 Prague BW Ber
Richter 1924 Toward Constructivism BW Ber
Tzara 1924 Photography in Reverse BW Ber
Braun 1925 Concrete Light BW Ber
Moholy-Nagy 1922 Production-Reproduction BW Bau
Molnar 1922 KURI Manifesto BW Bau
Schlemmer 1923 Bauhaus Manifesto BW Bau
Moholy-Nagy 1924 Film Sketch: Dynamics of a Metropolis BW Bau
Molnar 1925 Life at the Bauhaus BW Bau
Moholy-Nagy 1926 Film at the Bauhaus: a Rejoinder BW Bau
Kallai 1928 Herwarth Walden BW Bau
Moholy-Nagy 1928 Letter of Resignation from the Bauhaus ToC Bau
Micić 1922 Shimmy at the Latin Quarter Graveyard BW Yu
Micić 1922 A Categorical Imperative of the Zenithist School of Poetry BW Yu
Micić 1924 Barbarogenius BW Yu
Micić 1924 The New Art BW Yu
Micić 1924 Zenithosophy: Or the Energetics of Creative Zenithism BW Yu
Ratkovic 1925 Barbarism as Culture BW Yu
Raith 1926 Toward the Documentation of the European Cultural Crisis: Five Years of Zenithism BW Yu
Poljanski 1926 Upside Down BW Yu
Micić 1926 Beyond-Sense Poetry BW Yu
Micić 1926 Zenithism through the Prism of Marxism BW Yu
Janco 1922 Notes on Painting BW Buc
Janco 1924 Art Notes BW Buc
Voronca 1924 Victor Brauner BW Buc
Voronca 1924 Aviograma BW Buc
Voronca 1924 untitled statement BW Buc
Brauner; Voronca 1924 Pictopoetry BW Buc
Voronca 1924 Assessments BW Buc
Callimachi 1924 The Contimporanul Exhibition (Notes) BW Buc
Vianu 1924 The First Contimporanul International Exhibition BW Buc
Voronca 1924 Marcel Janco BW Buc
Maxy 1924 Visual Chrono-metering BW Buc
Aderca 1925 Conversations with Lucian Blaga BW Buc
Voronca 1925 Grammar BW Buc
Voronca 1925 Voices BW Buc
Cisek 1925 The International Exhibition Organized by the Magazine Contimporanul BW Buc
Integral 1925 Man BW Buc
Voronca 1925 Surrealism and Integralism BW Buc
Cosma 1925 From Futurism to Integralism BW Buc
Michailescu 1925 Black Art BW Buc
Petrascu 1925 Note about Sculpture BW Buc
Jacques 1926 Initiation in the Mysteries of an Exhibition: The Sensational Pronouncements of Militsa Petrascu and Marcel Janco BW Buc
Janco 1926 Cubism BW Buc
Janco 1927 Coloring BW Buc
Bogza 1928 Urmuz BW Buc
Bonset 1923 Toward a Constructive Poetry ToC NL
van Doesburg 1923 Elemental Formation ToC NL
van Doesburg; van Eesteren 1923 Toward a Collective Construction ToC NL
1923 Picture ToC Prag
Teige 1924 Poetism BW Prag
Teige 1925 Constructivism and the Liquidation of Art BW Prag
Styrsky; Toyen 1927-28 Artificialism BW Prag
Styrsky; Toyen 1927-28 The Poet BW Prag
Teige 1928 Poetism Manifesto BW Prag
Teige 1928 Ultraviolet Paintings, or, Artificialism (Notes on the Paintings of Styrsky and Toyen) BW Prag
Berlewi 1924 Mechano-facture BW Pol
Blok 1924 Editorial Statement BW Pol
Stażewski 1924 untitled statements on Suprematism and painting BW Pol
Strzemiński 1924 Theses on New Art BW Pol
Szczuka 1924 An Attempt to Explain the Misunderstandings Related to the Public's Attitude to New Art BW Pol
Blok 1924 What Constructivism Is ToC, BW Pol
Strzemiński 1924 B=2 BW Pol
Szczuka 1924 Photomontage BW Pol
Stażewski 1924 On Abstract Art BW Pol
AARA 1924 Concretists RAA Ru
AARA 1924 The Projectionist Group RAA Ru
AARA 1924 The First Working Group of Constructivists RAA Ru
AARA 1924 The First Working Group of Artists RAA Ru
Brik 1924 From Pictures to Textile Prints RAA, AiT Ru
Literary Center of Constructivists 1924 The Basic Tenets of Constructivism ToC Ru
Tatlin 1924 Report of the Section for Material Culture's Research Work for 1924 AiT Ru
Gan 1928 Constructivism in the Cinema ToC Ru
Rodchenko 1928 Against the Synthetic Portrait, For the Snapshot RAA Ru
Lissitzky 1930 from Russia: The Reconstruction of Architecture in the Soviet Union ToC Ru
Chernikov 1931 from The Construction of Architectural and Mechanical Forms ToC, RAA Ru
Gollerbakh 1931 Introduction to Chernikov's The Construction of Architectural and Mechanical Forms ToC Ru
Tatlin 1932 Art Out into Technology ToC Ru
Cernigoj 1927 Greetings! BW Lju
Polic 1927 Marij Kogoj's Black Masks BW Lju
Delak 1927 Theater Co-op BW Lju
Cernigoj 1927 Tank Manifesto BW Lju
Cernigoj 1927 The Constructivist Group in Trieste BW Lju
Seuphor 1930 In Defense of an Architecture ToC
Carlsund; van Doesburg; Hélion; Tutundjian; Wantz 1930 The Basis of Concrete Painting ToC
Torres-García 1933 The Constructive Art Group — Joint Collaborative Work ToC
Gorin 1936 The Aim of Constructive Plastic Art ToC
1937 Editorial in Circle — International Survey of Constructive Art ToC Circ
Gabo 1937 The Constructive Idea in Art ToC, AiT Circ
Gabo 1942 Letter to Herbert Read ToC Circ
Biederman 1948 from Art as the Evolution of Visual Knowledge ToC
Gabo 1948 On Constructive Realism ToC
Schöffer 1960 Spatiodynamism, Luminodynamism, and Chronodynamism ToC
Vasarely 1965 Planetary Folklore ToC
Hill 1959 On Constructions, Nature, and Structure ToC Str
Lohse 1961 A Step Farther — New Problems in Constructive Plastic Expression ToC Str
Baljeu 1964 The Constructive Approach Today ToC Str
Martin 1964 Construction from Within ToC Str

Abbreviations of themes

Bau = The Bauhaus; Ber = Berlin; Buc = Bucharest; CIPA = statements from and reaction to the Congress of International Progressive Artists, Düsseldorf; Circ = Circle; ExVie = Exile Vienna; Lju = Ljubljana; Pol = Poland; Prag = Prague; Ru = Russia; RuCi = Russian cinema; RuExh = First Russian Exhibition in Berlin; Str = Structure; Yu = Zagreb/Belgrade.

Historical studies and analyses[edit]

See also catalogues of retrospective exhibitions, introductions and commentaries to translations of primary books, introductions in anthologies and readers, and bibliographies on pages of respective artists, groups and theorists.

Russian[edit]

  • N.A. Nikonov (В.А. Никонов), Staty o konstruktivistakh [Статьи о конструктивистах], Ulyanovsk: Strezhen, 1928, 102 pp.
  • Tekhnicheskaia estetika (Trudy VNIITE) [Technical Aesthetics (Transactions of the VNIITE], Moscow: Dept of the History and Theory of Design/VNIITE, 1964-92. Journal. Selected numbers from 1986-92.
  • S.O. Khan-Magomedov (С.О. Хан-Магомедов), INKhUK i ranniy konstruktivizm [ИНХУК и ранний конструктивизм: научное издание], Moscow: Architectura, 1994, 248 pp.
  • E.V. Sidorina (Е.В. Сидорина), Russkiy konstruktivizm: idei, istoki, praktika [Русский конструктивизм: Идеи, истоки, практика], Moscow: n.p., 1995, 240 pp.
  • G.V. Titova (Г.В. Титова), Tvorcheskiy teatr i teatralnyy konstruktivizm [Творческий театр и театральный конструкти­визм], St Petersburg: St Petersburg Academy of Theatrical Arts, 1995, 255 pp.
  • Alexander Lavrentiev, Laboratoriia konstruktivizma, Moscow: Grant, 2000.
  • O.V. Akhmatova, Russkii konstruktivizm (opyt sotsial'no-filosofskogo analiza), Moscow: Sputnik, 2001.
  • Mariya Zalambani (Мария Заламбани), Iskusstvo v proizvodstve: avangard i revolyutsiya v Sovetskoy Rossii 20-kh godov [Искусство в производстве: Авангард и революция в Советской России 20-х годов] [1998], trans. N.B. Kardanov (Н.Б.Карданов), Moscow: IMLI RAN, 2003, 240 pp.
  • S.O. Khan-Magomedov (С.О. Хан-Магомедов), Konstruktivizm. Kontseptsiya formoobrazovaniya [Конструктивизм — концепция формообразования], Moscow: Stroyizdat [Стройиздат], 2003, 576 pp. TOC.
  • S.O. Khan-Magomedov (С.О. Хан-Магомедов), Aleksandr Vesnin i konstruktivizm. Zhivopis', teatr, arkhitektura, risunok, knizhnaia grafika, oformlenie prazdnikov [Александр Веснин и конструктивизм], Moscow: Architectura, 2007, 412 pp.
  • E.V. Barkhatova (Е.В. Бархатова), "Russkiy konstrukivizm 1920-kh - 1930-kh godov" [Русский конструктивизм 1920-х - 1930-х годов], nlr.ru (Russian National Library), 2010.
  • E.V. Sidorina (Е.В. Сидорина), Konstruktivizm bez beregov. Issledovaniya i etydy o russkom avangarde [Конструктивизм без берегов. Исследования и этюды о русском авангарде], Moscow: Progress-Traditsiya, 2012, 656 pp.

English[edit]

Dictionary entries on Constructivism

German[edit]

  • Willy Rotzler, Konstruktive Konzepte: eine Geschichte der konstruktiven Kunst vom Kubismus bis heute, Zurich: ABC, 1977, 299 pp; new ed., 1988, 332 pp; 3rd ed., 1995, 332 pp.
  • Rainer Georg Grübel, Russischer Konstruktivismus. Künstlerische Konzeptionen, literarische Theorie und kultureller Kontext, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1981, 263 pp. Excerpt, [21].
  • Lothar Lang, Konstruktivismus und Buchkunst, Leipzig: Edition Leipzig, 1990, 208 pp. TOC.
  • Kristina Passuth, Treffpunkte der Avantgarden: Ostmitteleuropa 1907–1930 [1988], trans. Aniko Harmath, Dresden: Verlag der Kunst, 2003, 337 pp. (German) Review: Dmitrieva-Einhorn (H-Soz-Kult 2006).

Polish[edit]

  • Andrzej Turowski, W kręgu konstruktiwizmu, Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1979, 288 pp.
  • Andrzej Turowski, Konstruktywizm polski: próba rekonstrukcji nurtu, 1921-1934, Wroclaw: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1981, 360 pp. Review: Gryglewicz (FHA 1985).

Spanish[edit]

  • Christina Lodder, El constructivismo ruso [1983], trans. María Cóndor Orduña, Madrid: Alianza, 1988, viii+327 pp.
  • Claude Leclanche-Boulé, Tipografías y fotomontajes: constructivismo en la URSS [1984], trans. Rosa Vercher González, intro. Juan Manuel Bonet, Valencia: Campgràfic, 2003, 273 pp.

French[edit]

  • Claude Leclanche-Boulé, Typographies et photomontages constructivistes en URSS, Paris: Papyrus, 1984, 173 pp; new ed. as Le constructivisme russe: typographies & photomontages, Paris: Flammarion, 1991, 173 pp.
  • Kristina Passuth, Les avant-gardes de l'Europe Centrale, 1907-1927, Paris: Flammarion, 1988, 327 pp.
  • François Albéra, Eisenstein et le constructivisme russe, Lausanne: L'Âge d'homme, 1990. [22]
  • Valerie Camden, L'influence du proletkult sur la théorie et la pratique constructivistes, Quebec: Université Laval, 2010, 147 pp. Dissertation.
  • Gérard Conio, Dépassements constructivistes: Taraboukine, Axionov, Eisenstein, Lausanne: L'Âge d'homme, 2011, 396 pp. TOC.

Hungarian[edit]

  • Kristina Passuth, Avantgarde kapcsolatok Prágától Bukarestig 1907-1930 [1988], Budapest: Balassi, 1998, 381 pp.

Turkish[edit]

  • Victor Margolin, Ütopya mücadelesi: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946 [1998], trans. M. Emir Uslu, Istanbul: Espas Sanat Kuram Yayınları, 2012, 286 pp.

Italian[edit]

  • Maria Zalambani, L'arte nella produzione: avanguardia e rivoluzione nella Russia sovietica degli anni '20, Ravenna: Longo, 1998, 258 pp.

See also[edit]

Documentaries[edit]

  • Away From All Suns!, dir. Isa Willinger, 2013, 74 min. On constructivist architecture of the 1920s. [23] [24]

See also[edit]


Visual art

Styles and movementsHistoriansWritersMuseumsCare1990sEast Central EuropeReference
See also Art and culture