L Lissitsky theoretical works. El Lissitzky

Lazar Markovich (Mordukhovich) Lisitsky (*November 22, 1890 - December 30, 1941) - Soviet artist and architect, also widely known as " El Lissitzky».

El Lissitzky is one of the outstanding representatives of the Russian and Jewish avant-garde. Together with Kazimir Malevich he developed the foundations of Suprematism.

In 1918 in Kyiv, Lissitzky became one of the founders of the Kultur-League (Yiddish: League of Culture), an avant-garde artistic and literary association that aimed to create a new Jewish national art. In 1919, at the invitation of Marc Chagall, he moved to Vitebsk, where he taught at the People's Art School (1919-1920).

In 1917-1919, Lissitzky devoted himself to illustrating works of modern Jewish literature and especially children's poetry in Yiddish, becoming one of the founders of the avant-garde style in Jewish book illustration. In contrast to Chagall, who was inclined towards traditional Jewish art, from 1920 Lissitzky, under the influence of Malevich, turned to Suprematism.

Lissitzky died of tuberculosis in December 1941. His last job there was a poster “Give us more tanks.” He was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow, along with his father Mark Solomonovich, his brother Reuben and his wife Lelya.

Izvestia ASNOVA, 1920s

In 1926, under the editorship of L. Lisitsky and N. Ladovsky, the first issue of “Izvestia ASNOVA (Association of New Architects)” was published, which included Ladovsky’s article “Fundamentals of the construction of the theory of architecture” and the most significant projects of the association members from 1923-1925.

Kunstisms, 1920s, Books

"Kunstisms". The book is a montage about new art published by El Lissitzky together with Hans Arp in 1925.

Cover of Journalist magazine, No. 1, 1929

There is a metro!

Page from the magazine “USSR on Construction”, No. 8, 1935. By El Lissitzky.

The first ski jumping hill in Moscow. Sparrow Hills

Poster for the exhibition of achievements of the USSR in Germany, 1929

Lecture poster Kazimir Malevich in Orenburg

In July 1920, Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky, leaders of UNOVIS, the movement of promoters of new art, came to Orenburg. Malevich gives a lecture “State Society Criticism and New artist(Innovator)". After which, throughout August, together with Lissitzky (the author of sketches of the banners of the new Russia), they rest in a kumiss clinic near Orenburg.

Cover of the book “Notes of a Poet”

Cover of the book “ZOO or Letters not about love”

USSR poster on international exhibition furs, 1930

El Lissitzky - Topography of typography. 1920s

Theses formulated by El Lissitzky about typography and visual perception.

1. Words printed on a sheet of paper are perceived by the eyes, not by hearing.
2. With ordinary words concepts are represented, and with the help of letters concepts can be expressed.
3. Economy of perception - optics instead of phonetics.
4. The design of a book body using typesetting material, according to the laws of typographic mechanics, must correspond to the forces of compression and tension of the text.
5. The design of a book body using clichés implements new optics. Supernatural reality improves vision.
6. Continuous sequence of pages - bioscopic book.
7. A new book requires new writers. Inkwell and goose feathers dead.
8. A printed sheet conquers space and time. The printed page and the infinity of the book themselves must be overcome.

Artist

Proun 1A, Most I Suggest a name

Abstraction in pink tones

Beat the whites with a red wedge, 1920

Here are two squares, 1920

Geometric abstraction

Teachers of the People's art school

Teachers of the People's Art School. Vitebsk, July 26, 1919. Seated from left to right: El Lissitzky, Vera Ermolaeva, Marc Chagall, David Yakerson, Yudel Pan, Nina Kogan, Alexander Romm. The school clerk is standing there.

- (real name Lisitsky Lazar Markovich) (1890, Pochinok village, Smolensk region - 1941, Moscow), Russian painter, graphic artist, designer, author of architectural projects, teacher; one of the greatest masters of the Russian avant-garde. Studied at architectural... Art encyclopedia

- (real name and last name Lazar Markovich Lisitsky; 1890–1941) – Russian. architect, designer, graphic artist. In 1921 25 lived in Germany and Switzerland. He developed projects for high-rise buildings, transformable furniture, artistic methods. designing a book... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Pseudonyms

LISITSKY (pseudonym El Lisitsky) Lazar Markovich- (pseudonym El Lissitzky) Lazar Markovich (18901941), architect, designer, graphic artist. In 192125 he lived in Germany and Switzerland. He developed projects for high-rise buildings (horizontal skyscrapers), societies. structures, transformable furniture,... ... Biographical Dictionary

Lisitsky, Lazar Markovich- El Lissitzky. Planetary Suprematism (proun). 1919 1920. Paper, gouache. LISITSKY (pseudonym El Lisitsky) Lazar Markovich (1890 1941), Russian architect, artist, designer, graphic artist. In 1921 25 lived in Germany and Switzerland. Developed... ... Illustrated encyclopedic Dictionary

- (pseud. El Lissitzky) (1890 1941), Soviet architect, designer, graphic artist. He studied at the architectural faculty of the Higher Technical School in Darmstadt (1909-14) and at the Riga Polytechnic Institute in Moscow (1915-16). Taught... Art encyclopedia

Lissitzky surname. Famous bearers: Lisitsky, Vitaly Sergeevich (born 1982) Ukrainian football player Lisitsky, Lazar Markovich (1890 1941) Soviet artist and architect, also widely known as “El Lissitsky” ... Wikipedia

- (pseudonym El Lissitzky) Lazar Markovich (1890 1941), Russian architect, designer, graphic artist. In 1921 25 lived in Germany and Switzerland. He developed projects for high-rise buildings, transformable furniture, artistic design methods... ... Modern encyclopedia

LISITSKY (pseud. El Lisitsky) Lazar Markovich (1890 1941) Russian architect, designer, graphic artist. In 1921 25 lived in Germany and Switzerland. Member of Asnow and the Dutch group Style. Developed projects for high-rise buildings, transformable... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Lisitsky (pseudonym El Lisitsky) Lazar Markovich, Soviet architect, designer, graphic artist. He studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Higher Technical School in... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Lisitsky Lazar Markovich- (El Lissitzky) (1890 1941) Russian constructivist architect, artist, printer, designer, art theorist, author of the concept of interaction between painting and sculpture; from 1922 to 1931 he worked in the West, influencing the “Style” association.... ... Architectural Dictionary

Books

• Designer of the book El Lissitzky, El Lissitzky. The book-album “Book Designer El Lissitzky” includes: the work of Vladimir Mayakovsky “For the Voice”, illustrated by E. Lissitzky, “The Tale of 2 Squares”, designed by the artist,…
• El Lissitzky. 1890-1941. Geometry of time, I. N. Dukhan. The mystery artist and “eternal” wanderer of the avant-garde Lazar Markovich Lissitzky lived several lives in art. At the dawn of his formation, Lissitzky received a graft of refined modernity on...

E.L.Nemirovsky

«... New job work on the book has not yet gone so far as to explode the traditional form of the book. Despite the crises that book production is experiencing along with other types of products, the book glacier is growing every year. The book has turned into a monumental work of art, it is not only caressed by the gentle fingers of a few bibliophiles, it is grasped by hundreds of thousands of hands.” This statement is unusually modern, yet it is taken from the article “Our Book,” published in the pages of the Gutenberg Yearbook about 80 years ago. Its author, Lazar (Eliazar) Markovich Lissitzky, or, as he usually signed his works, El Lissitzky, had a tremendous influence on the development of book art in the twentieth century.

Lazar Lisitsky was born on November 10, 1890 in the small town of Pochinok, lost among the forests of the Smolensk province. He became a Russian by pure chance. His father, Mark Lissitzky, went to seek his fortune in distant America, succeeded there and wrote to his wife asking her and two-year-old Lazar to come to him. But the mother of the future artist, a devout Jew, decided that first she needed to consult a rabbi. The wise rabbi said that one should not leave the land where the graves of grandfathers and fathers are located. As a result, the aspiring American entrepreneur Mark Lissitsky returned to Russia, because he could not imagine life away from his beloved wife and son, on whom he had high hopes.

Soon the family moved to Vitebsk. And little Lazar was sent to study in the provincial Smolensk, where his grandfather had a small hat workshop. The boy learned the basics of science at the Smolensk real gymnasium, and spent his holidays at home. Here he attended the school-workshop of the artist Yudol Pan (1854-1937), a pupil St. Petersburg Academy arts Young Lazar's passion for drawing was still unconscious, but quite definite. Peng was a good realist, but, oddly enough, his students, of whom Marc Chagall (1887-1985) became the most famous, became the founders of all sorts of “isms” that are so characteristic of the twentieth century.

After graduating from high school, Lazar Lisitsky decided to follow the path of his Vitebsk teacher and went to St. Petersburg to enter the Academy of Arts. But he was not accepted. Then the young man went to Germany to Darmstadt, where he became a student at the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic high school. In the summer of 1911, he visited the Mecca of artists Paris, where he was invited by Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967), another native of Vitebsk who became famous French artist. The following summer, 1912, Lissitzky traveled around Italy. He painted a lot, mainly landscapes; his works with views of Pisa and Ravenna have survived. Carefree pre-war Europe generously opened up the cultural values ​​accumulated over centuries to the young artist.

El Lissitzky. From a photograph from 1919

The newly minted architect received his diploma just before the outbreak of the First World War, and in 1914 he had to flee Germany and, with great difficulty, through Switzerland, Italy, Serbia, get to Russia. The young man settled in Moscow, where he became an assistant to the architect Roman Ivanovich Klein (1849-1925), who built a neoclassical Museum opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, contrasting with its Byzantine luxury fine arts(now State Museum Fine Arts named after. A.S. Pushkin). It was then that Lissitzky first took up book graphics made the cover for poetry collection“The Sun is Declining” by Konstantin Aristarkhovich Bolshakov (1895-1938), which was published in Moscow in 1916. This was the second collection by an author who was associated with the futurists. K. A. Bolshakov did not become a great poet; during the Civil War, he fought in the Red Army, and then wrote novels and historical and biographical stories. Lissitzky's work for Bolshakov's collection was eclectic in many ways, but his very next graphic experiments attracted the attention of book experts.

Case of “The Prague Legend” by M. Broderson

In the spring of 1917, the Moscow publishing house "Shamir" published unusual book — « Prague legend", a collection of poems by M. Broderson (1890-1956). These poems were written in Yiddish, a largely artificial language that snobs contemptuously called jargon, but which was spoken by a large Jewish population of Russia, Poland, and Romania at that time. M. Broderson was young and was strongly influenced by the futurists. Subsequently, he would work in drama and journalism, and during the war years he would write the poem “The Jews,” which was called an indictment against Hitlerism.

M. Broderson. Prague legend. M., 1917. Copy with hand coloring by El Lissitzky

The circulation of The Prague Legend was small - only 110 copies. The text reproduced by lithographic method was not typed, but handwritten by a master calligrapher. Lissitzky painted 20 copies by hand. They were made in the form of a scroll, which, like the Torah (as Jews call the Pentateuch of Moses - the initial part of the Bible), was enclosed in a wooden coffin box. Lazar Lissitzky decorated the pages of the scroll watercolor drawings and patterned ornamental frames. The delightful colors were a delight to the eye. The book was distributed to bibliophile collections. Today one of the copies of this rare edition kept in the Book Museum of the Russian State Library. The second can be found in the State Tretyakov Gallery.

El Lissitzky. Drawing from “The Tale of the Goat” (Kyiv, 1917)

The traditions of small-town Jewish folklore form the basis of another work by Lazar Lisitsky, “Tales of the Goat,” published in 1919 in Kyiv. 75 copies of this book were illustrated with color lithographs. The text of the tale echoes the legend “Rabbi of Bacherach” recorded by the German poet Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). This allowed the Berlin publishing house Der Morgen to reproduce facsimile copies of the Russian artist's lithographs in a new edition of the legend, published in 1978.

El Lissitzky. Leaf from the album "PROUN". 1919

The turning point in the life of Lazar Lissitzky came in May 1919, when, at the invitation of Marc Chagall, who led the People’s art school in Vitebsk, he moved to his native Belarusian city, where he headed the architectural faculty and the graphics and printing workshop.

Today it is customary to scold the October Revolution, pejoratively calling it the Bolshevik coup. There are no words, the revolution led to the suffering of many innocent people. But at the same time, it contributed to a powerful cultural upsurge, the awakening of those who were dormant in the provinces. cultural forces who made a significant contribution to the development new literature and art. In the article by Lazar Markovich Lisitsky, an excerpt from which we quoted at the beginning of the article, there are the following lines: “During the revolution, hidden energy accumulated in our young generation of artists, which was only waiting for a big order from the people in order to reveal itself. The audience was a huge mass, a mass of semi-literate people. The revolution did a colossal educational and propaganda job in our country. Traditional book was torn into separate pages, enlarged a hundred times, enhanced by color printing and taken out into the street as a poster."

In history visual arts in the first post-revolutionary years, Vitebsk played approximately the same role as Odessa in the region fiction. It was a school of talents, where under the wing of Marc Chagall they gathered young people trying to blow up traditional forms. The names of Kazimir Malevich, Lazar Lissitzky, Robert Falk, Solomon Yudovin who were raised here in history national culture no less glorious than the names of Odessa residents Eduard Bagritsky, Konstantin Paustovsky, Valentin Kataev, Isaac Babel, Vera Inber, Evgeny Petrov and Ilya Ilf.

There was a Civil War in the country. Lazar Lissitzky's sympathies were on the side of the revolution, with which he inextricably linked the formation and further development of new art. The artist also took part in the agitation and propaganda work launched by the authorities. At that time, it was largely in the hands of enthusiasts and romantics, who had no idea that they would soon begin to destroy each other. In this regard, it is worth noting the poster “Beat the Whites with a Red Wedge” made by Lissitzky in 1919. His graphic solution reveals the features of a movement that later became known as constructivism.

El Lissitzky. Poster "Beat the whites with a red wedge." 1919

Together with Kazimir Malevich, Lissitzky organized art workshops in Vitebsk, which in the newspeak of the revolution were called UNOVIS, which meant “Approval of the New in Art.” The manifesto of the commonwealth was the brochure “Suprematism” by K. Malevich, published in Vitebsk in 1920. It was small: four pages of handwritten text, reproduced in lithographic method, and 34 black and white lithographs. In 1977, at an auction in New York, this book was valued at $22,500.

The almanac “UNOVIS”, illustrated with lithographs, was published in a circulation of seven typewritten copies, on the pages of which Lissitzky published the articles “Suprematism of Creation” and “Suprematism of World Construction”. The ideas of Kazimir Malevich had a decisive influence on the formation creative personality Lazar Lissitzky.

I. G. Erenburg. 6 stories about easy endings. M.; Berlin, 1922. Cover by El Lissitzky

The album “PROUN” was also conceived in Vitebsk, the name of which stands for “Project for the Approval of the New,” which was published in Moscow, where Lissitzky returned at the beginning of 1921. Eleven lithographs in it were preceded by the “Declaration”. Some lithographs had titles “City”, “Bridge”, while others were indicated only by numbers. The circulation of the almanac was 50 copies. There was something cosmic in Suprematist constructions. “We are now experiencing an exceptional era of the entry into our consciousness of a new birth in space,” the artist wrote.

At the end of 1921, Lissitzky went on a business trip to Germany to Berlin. This city at that time was the center cultural life both emigrant, oppositional to the established regime in Russia, and sympathetic to it. Russian publishing houses worked there, magazines were published, and exhibitions were held. Russian intellectuals they gathered at the Nollendorfplatz cafe, where on Fridays they held a kind of public reading. Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Sergei Yesenin with Isadora Duncan, Andrei Bely, Boris Pasternak, Viktor Shklovsky were here... Lisitsky met the young poet Ilya Grigorievich Erenburg (1891-1967) here. The first novel that made him famous " Extraordinary Adventures Julio Jurenito and his students" had not yet been published. Together with Ehrenburg, Lissitzky began publishing the magazine “Thing,” which they opened with a joint declaration. On its cover the title was given in Russian, German and French, some articles were published in the magazine in a similar way. The magazine did not last long: the first double issue was published at the beginning of 1922, the next one in May; Unfortunately, there was no continuation. “The Thing,” Ehrenburg later said, was published by the Scythians publishing house. It is easy to guess how far the revolutionary Slavophiles and incorrigible populists were from the ideas of constructivism that we preached. After the first issue, they could not stand it and dissociated themselves from us in print.” But the magazine was conceived on a grand scale. The first 32-page issue had six sections: art and society, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, theater and circus, music, cinema. The “Literature” section published poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergei Yesenin, Boris Pasternak, Nikolai Aseev, French and German poets. In 1976, the magazine "Thing" was translated into English and published with detailed comments.

The front page of the magazine "Thing"

In the same 1922, Lissitzky also made the cover for the book “6 Stories about Easy Endings” by Ilya Ehrenburg, published in Berlin by the Helikon publishing house. Two colors dominated here: black and red, contrasting, but amazingly and harmonizing with each other. Such a decision became the main one for Lissitzky for several years; it was as if other colors did not exist for him. Whether Lissitzky knew about this or not, he was following the long-standing national tradition: An old printed Russian book in the Kirill script also used only these two colors.

El Lissitzky. Cover of the magazine “Thing”

Lissitzky maintained friendly relations with Ehrenburg until the end of his days. Subsequently, already at the end of his life, Ilya Grigorievich recalled: “Lissitsky firmly believed in constructivism. In life he was gentle, extremely kind, sometimes naive, he was ill, he fell in love, as people fell in love in the last century, blindly, selflessly. And in art, he seemed to be an adamant mathematician, inspired by precision, and raved about sobriety. He was an extraordinary inventor, he knew how to design a stand at an exhibition in such a way that the poverty of the exhibits seemed excessive; knew how to construct a book in a new way.”

Great love Lissitzky became Sophie Küppers, a recently widowed woman with two small children, owner art gallery in Hanover. It is difficult to say why the young, beautiful and rich German woman was attracted to the frail, half-poor and, moreover, sick (Lissitzky had tuberculosis) Jew. Sophie followed Lissitzky to the Soviet Union, tasted all the delights of the Stalinist regime here, was exiled to Siberia during the war years and died in Novosibirsk on December 10, 1978, having outlived her second husband by 37 years.

But let's return to Germany in the early 20s. Finest hour struck a chord for Lazar Lissitzky in 1922-1923, when two of his books were published in Berlin: “A Suprematist Tale about Two Squares” and “For the Voice” by V.V. Mayakovsky. Lazar Markovich designed many books, but he considered these two to be the main ones for himself; he named them when answering the corresponding question in a questionnaire in one of the German encyclopedias on February 25, 1925.

“Skaz” was “built” back in 1920 in Vitebsk. It was published by the Berlin publishing house "Scythians". The activities of this publishing house, founded by E. G. Lundberg, did not last long - from 1920 to 1925. The book was printed in the printing house of E. Haberland in Leipzig.

El Lissitzky. Spreads of the collection “Mayakovsky for Voice”. 1922

“A Suprematist Tale of Two Squares” is a 10-page brochure addressed to “everyone, all the guys.” There is almost no text in it. The plot, quite transparent, but far from immediately perceivable, unfolds in pictures. Two squares black and red from deep space fly to Earth. Here they see the dominance of black and “anxious.” Strike the black and harmony is established. Red buildings are erected on black soil. The subtext is a story about the eternal struggle between good and evil, as well as a premonition of the great upheavals that the 20th century was preparing for humanity. For Lissitzky, what was most important was the play of shapes and colors, to which everything was subordinated. The design of “Skaz” was far from politics, because in it red opposed not white, but black.

The little book was a success and in the same 1922 it was republished in The Hague (Netherlands). Its cinematography, so to speak, immediately caught the eye. “The Tale” was even going to be filmed, but this idea, unfortunately, was not realized.

For the collection “For the Voice” V.V. Mayakovsky selected 13 poems. The Moscow State Publishing House, which before the NEP was proclaimed in 1921 had almost a monopoly on the book market, did not like the collection. It wasn’t that it was banned, but it was clearly not recommended for publication. It was then that the idea came to release the collection in Berlin. The representative of the People's Commissariat for Education and the State Publishing House in Berlin, which was under its jurisdiction, Zinovy ​​Grigorievich Grinberg, helped in this. With his blessing, the stamp “R.S.F.S.R.” appeared on one of the first pages of the book. State publishing house. Berlin 1923". Moscow did not give permission for this.

In fact, it must be said that V.V. Mayakovsky did not experience any difficulties with the publication of his books, although Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who was brought up in Russian classics of the 19th century century, once publicly said that he was not a fan of his work. But he immediately admitted his incompetence in this area. In 1923 alone, 15 collections of Mayakovsky's poems were published. Among them is a unique two-volume collection of works, “13 Years of Work.”

“Well-wishers” immediately reported to Moscow about Z.G. Grinberg’s decision. The authorities immediately gave him the appropriate reprimand. On June 23, 1923, the head of the State Publishing House Nikolai Leonidovich Meshcheryakov (1865-1942) wrote to Greenberg:

“According to the information we have received, in Berlin, in accordance with your order, the printing of V.V. Mayakovsky’s book “Mayakovsky for Voice” is currently being completed, indicating on the cover: State Publishing House, Berlin.

If this information is completely true, then, although for commercial reasons we do not find it possible to make changes to the finished publication, delay its publication and sale, we nevertheless point out to you that it is completely inadmissible for you to give orders for publications without the sanction of their editor Gosizdat, because Gosizdat bears ideological responsibility for all publications before the party and the Soviet government editorial team State Publishing House.

At the same time, we bring to your attention that, in accordance with the resolution of the Administrative Commission of the State Publishing House dated 21 this month, you personally bear full responsibility for all misunderstandings of both a commercial and legal nature that may arise in connection with the above-mentioned publication of V.’s book. V. Mayakovsky ".

El Lissitzky. Cover of the collection “Mayakovsky for Voice”. 1922

Z.G. Grinberg asked permission to print the book after the fact, but did not receive a response from Moscow. The case was not completed more than a year later. On November 22, 1924, Greenberg wrote to Moscow: “... the third question concerns the detention here of Mayakovsky’s book “For the Voice.” As you probably know from my letter, Mayakovsky published a collection of his poems “Mayakovsky for Voice” here. At the request of the author, considering his book not harmful to Gosizdat as an author with a large circle of readers, I purchased 2000 copies here. and gave the corresponding order to the book publishing department dated 15/XI 22. The book publishing department put a publishing stamp on the book without asking for my consent. To my inquiry about whether this book should be sent to Gosizdat, the latter did not give me any answer. The book is still here today. Bringing to your attention the above, I kindly ask you to tell me what to do with Mayakovsky’s book in the amount of 1000 copies. One thousand copies. Mayakovsky took with him for transfer to Gosizdat."

So, we learn that the book publishing department of the Berlin trade mission allegedly, without Greenberg’s knowledge, put the stamp of the State Publishing House on the book. This department at that time was headed by Ivan Pavlovich Ladyzhnikov. In his handwritten memoirs, stored in the V.V. Mayakovsky Museum, there is a short mention of the book “For the Voice”: “In Germany, V.V. Mayakovsky set out to publish a book. The fact is that it was difficult to publish in Moscow at that time; there was no paper. I was in charge of the publishing department of the trade mission in Berlin and tried to help in the publication of his volume of poetry. He was fascinated by the appearance and shape. Someone inspired him to get in shape, it seems Lissitzky. There was little original in the form, but if a person likes it, why not do it, not help. And I helped in every possible way.” Ladyzhnikov, as we see, was skeptical about the concept of book design developed by Lissitzky. Let's talk about the solution proposed by the artist to see how wrong the trade mission official was.

Lissitzky designed the book like a telephone directory with a ladder-like register that allows you to quickly find the poem you need. On the cutouts of the register there are abbreviated names of the poems: “March”, “Kuma”, “Love”, “Sun”, as well as symbolic two-color drawings made up of rectangles and circles. As in "The Tale", only two colors are used in this book (except for white paper) black and red. Their struggle, turning into cooperation, continues.

The register gave the book a volume that you immediately feel when you pick it up. In this regard, the art critic Yuri Yakovlevich Gerchuk wrote about the “dynamics of the book”: “The table of contents-register,” he argued, “organizes many “entrances” into the book and gives quick access to the beginning of each poem.”

The collection “For the Voice” was published by a small Berlin printing house “Lutze und Vogt” (“Lutze & Vogt G.m.b.H.”). The book was published in January 1923. It was “dressed” in a binding made of soft cardboard, painted orange. The book is preceded by an insert title page with a hand-drawn composition and typed red text. This is the only sheet of the book printed from a halftone plate. As a frontispiece, a composition in the form of a circle was used, inside which were placed a triangle, a circle, a square and the letters L Y B. These are the initials of V. V. Mayakovsky’s beloved Lily Yuryevna Brik. If you read this inscription counterclockwise, it reads “LOVE.” Thus, the frontispiece is also a dedication.

The circulation in the publication is not indicated. From the above letter from Z.G. Grinberg it is known that he purchased 2000 copies and that 1000 of them were given to Mayakovsky, who took them to Russia. The poet liked the book, but, oddly enough, he mentioned it only once - in an interview given in 1924. He said the following: “The Berlin publishing house of the RSFSR published the book “Mayakovsky for Voice” (design by the artist Lissitzky), which is exceptional in the technique of performing graphic art.” The phrase is clumsy; one feels that these are not the words of Mayakovsky, but of the journalist who interviewed him.

El Lissitzky. Cover of the book “About 2 squares”. 1922

Lissitzky himself spoke about the history of the publication “For the Voice” in an interview he gave on February 19, 1939. “At the end of 1922,” he said, “we learned that Mayakovsky was flying to Berlin. This was typical for Mayakovsky - he always used the latest transport capabilities. Mayakovsky informed me that the State Publishing House was going to publish his book. For this purpose, a branch of the State Publishing House was created in Berlin. Mayakovsky invited me to take on the design of the book as graphics, while he would act as the author and Lilya Brik as the editor. We selected 13 poems. The book was intended for public reading. To help the reader quickly find the right poem, I came up with the idea of ​​​​using the principle of register here. Vladimir Vladimirovich agreed with this. Usually our books were printed in large printing houses. Leading technical editor Scaponi found a small printing house for us. He said: “It is better to carry out this risky enterprise in a small establishment, where they will understand you faster.” The typesetter was German. He typed completely mechanically. For each page I made a special sketch for him. He thought we were a little touched. During the work, the management of the printing house and typesetters were fascinated by this unusual book and realized that its contents required original design. At their request, I translated poetry for them."

As we see, the circumstances of the publication of “For the Voice” are told by Lissitsky differently than in the correspondence of Z. Grinberg with N. Meshcheryakov. The artist forgot something a long time ago. For example, he called the technical editor of Gosizdat Bruno Georgievich Scamoni Scaponi.

"For the Voice" is not a rare book. In the Book Museum of the Russian State Library alone there are eight copies of it. Among them are those that belonged to the famous bibliophiles V.A. Desnitsky, A.K. Tarasenkov, N.P. Smirnov-Sokolsky. But in famous library Russian poetry of Ivan Nikanorovich Rozanov did not exist.

I was lucky enough to purchase this book in August 1945 at a second-hand bookstore on what was then Soviet Square. I paid for it a symbolic amount for those times - 35 pre-reform rubles. Books first post-war years were incredibly cheap. At that time I was interested in Mayakovsky, but I had never heard anything about Lissitzky. And only many years later I discovered what a treasure I owned. The copy I bought was complete and clean. In the poem “The Story of How the Godfather Interpreted Wrangel,” the lines were even preserved in it:

The censors mercilessly erased these lines, and in subsequent editions they were completely thrown out.

To be continued.

Poster for El Lissitzky's lecture " Modern Art in Russia"" in Hanover 1923
Paper, lithograph 41.3 x 58.5 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Introduction. How Lissitsky ended up with Shukhov

These days, a retrospective exhibition of El Lissitzky is taking place in Moscow. The organizers decided to interesting step divide it into 2 parts, geographically separate: Part I - in the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, and Part II - in the New Tretyakov Gallery.

I decided to write down my impressions immediately after visiting the Jewish Museum, without going to the Tretyakov Gallery. I assume there will be 3 notes: I, II - dedicated to the exhibition Tretyakov Gallery and containing the chronology of the artist’s life, and III - I would like to highlight the book graphics of EL.

Placing part of the exhibition in the Jewish Museum seems symbolic. It's not a matter of nationality, but the museum space. The Tolerance Center occupies the building of the former Bakhmetyevsky Garage, an architectural monument of the Soviet avant-garde. It was built in 1927 according to the design of Konstantin Melnikov and Vladimir Shukhov for English Leyland buses. That is, the building itself puts the viewer in the right mood.

The Jewish Museum is the most technologically advanced in Moscow (interactive technologies, etc.). I’m sure Lissitzky the engineer would have liked it.

"Constructor". Self-portrait

According to Nikolai Khardzhiev, the impetus for the creation of this self-portrait was Michelangelo’s quote from Giorgio Vasari: “The compass should be in the eye, not in the hand, for the hand works, but the eye judges.” According to Vasari, Michelangelo “adhered to the same thing in architecture.”

Lissitzky considered the compass an essential tool contemporary artist. The motif of the compass as an attribute of the modern artistic thinking the creator-designer repeatedly appeared in his works, serving as a metaphor for impeccable precision.

In his theoretical writings he proclaimed new type the artist “with a brush, a hammer and a compass in his hands”, creating the “City of the Commune”. In the article “Suprematism of World Building” Lissitzky wrote:

“We, who have gone beyond the picture, have taken into our hands the plumb line of economy, the ruler and the compass, because the splattered brush does not correspond to our clarity, and, if we need it, we will take the machine into our hands, because to reveal creativity, both the brush and the ruler, and the compass, and the machine are only the last joint of my finger, drawing the path.”

Holy Trinity Church, Vitebsk, 1910
Paper, graphite pencil, gouache 30 x 37.7 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Vitebsk branch of Russian avant-garde

I've always had trouble with terminology. Great amount, the isms invented by art critics, confused me. But if we assume that the first third of the 20th century is the era of the avant-garde (without delving further). You might be surprised how many artists of this era the Belarusian land produced. , Chagall (Vitebsk), Soutine (Smilovichi) and finally our hero, born at the Pochonok stop in the Smolensk region, but raised in Vitebsk.

Lissitzky and Soutine are now separated by a distance of literally two kilometers (an exhibition of Soutine is being held at Pushkinsky).

Probably, at the beginning of the 20th century there was a special air in Vitebsk: Chagall (who remained to live in Vitebsk in his paintings), Lissitzky, Repin (who had an estate near Vitebsk and worked there), and immediately after the revolution the landing party led by K. Malevich and M. Kerzin .

Organization of the exhibition

What struck me most was the entrance to the exhibition (see photo in the title of the note). A huge space, two walls (one black, formerly written “Lisitsky”, the other snow-white with raised letters “El”), formed a corner. There are two white inconspicuous doors in the white wall: entrance and exit. Very... constructivist :)

There are 4 halls allocated for the exhibition itself. The first graphic - I really liked the work with views of Italy (I had not seen them before). There are also illustrations and the book itself “Sihat Hulin” (“Prague Legend” 1917); R. Kipling “The Tale of the Curious Little Elephant” (in Yiddish) Berlin, 1922 - I got carried away, we’ll talk about book graphics separately. Sketches for painting the ceiling of the Mogilev synagogue.

Moishe Broderson. Prague legend. Moscow, 1917
State Tretyakov Gallery

The second room is graphics design. Characters from the opera "Victory over the Sun". Interesting advertisement for the company stationery"Pelikan", which he made to pay for his treatment.

The rest are allocated: to his famous “prouns”, to the magazine “USSR in Construction”, which he headed; photo experiments and design projects for international exhibitions.

I really liked that next to each book there is an iPad with the book downloaded into it, and you can flip through it and watch it in its entirety. Just great. Great option For book exhibitions, however, expensive.

You can take pictures. But the quality, taking into account the glass in all works, is average. Be sure to go yourself and see it live.

I would especially like to mention the excellent joint publication of the Jewish Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery, “El Lissitzky,” prepared for the exhibition. Made in the style of constructivism, with colored edges. Contains a lot of information (336 pages) and excellent printing (all exhibited works, many rare photographic materials). Costs 2500 rubles. - inexpensive for such a publication.

A lion. Zodiac sign. Copy of the ceiling painting of the Mogilev synagogue 1916
Paper, black chalk, watercolor 22 x 24.5 cm. Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Collection of Boris and Lisa Aronson Posthumous gift of Yards Kohen, Apheka, Israel

I have no goal of telling the biography of the artist (especially since I will give a chronology of his life in the second part). I have an ambiguous attitude towards his work. It's too different. As he himself wrote: "The path of creativity is invention". He is an engineer, his constancy is in diversity, in the synthesis of all kinds of techniques. In the field of book graphics, I consider the most ingenious edition: Mayakovsky, V. For voice / book designer El Lissitzky. Berlin: Gosizdat, 1923.

Avant-garde artists were captivated by the idea of ​​the expansion of art into daily life. All these -isms (Suprematism, Constructivism, Neoplasticism) were transferred to design, theater, book graphics. And this is definitely about Lissitzky. But there is another side.

He himself wrote: “Each state had its own David, who, depending on the need, could write the “Oath of the Horatii” today, and the “Coronation of Napoleon” tomorrow. David is missing today.". He spoke of Jacques-Louis David, a republican revolutionary who later became an imperial court artist. Apparently, he, the editor of the magazine “USSR in Construction,” saw himself this way.

Ravenna. 1913
Paper, graphite pencil, gouache, chalk 31.8 x 23.7 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Memories of Ravenna. 1914
Paper, engraving 33.9 x 36.6 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Pisa. 1913
Paper, sepia 24.9 x 32.5 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Preparation of firewood. Drawing for a calendar for November - December. Late 1910s
Paper, ink, whitewash, pen, brush, drawing instruments 10.2 x 24.7 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery Gift of A. A. Sidorov in 1969

Proun. 1920–1921
Paper, graphite and black pencils, watercolor 24.35 x 22.1 cm. Russian state archive literature and art

“Remember, proletarians of communications, 1905”
Sketch version of a poster for the festive decoration of Vitebsk for the 15th anniversary of the 1905 revolution. 1919-1920. Paper, gouache, ink, graphite pencil 18.2 x 22.9 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery

Hit the whites with a red wedge. Poster. 1920
Paper, lithograph 53 x 70 cm. Russian State Library

They fly to the ground from afar. Building No. 2. 1922
Paper, lithograph 25.5 x 21 cm. Collection of Vladimir Tsarenkov

"New person". Not dated
Parchment, graphite pencil, gouache 35 x 35.5 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Design (layout) for the play “I Want a Child.” Inscription inside: healthy child- future builder of communism

“To help party study.” Magazine cover layout 1927
Cardboard, graphite pencil, ink, gouache 26.55 x 18.1 cm. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art

Sketch for the cover of the magazine “Thing” 1922
Paper, collage, ink 31.3x23.5 cm. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

Constitution of the USSR. Poster 1937
Insert in the magazine “USSR at Construction”, 1937. No. 9-12 To the 20th anniversary October revolution Museum of the History of Jews in Russia

“Peace, peace at all costs! Reforge the swords! 1940
Paper, ink, pen 32 x 29.6 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery

In two museums at once - the Tretyakov Gallery and the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center - large exhibitions dedicated to the Russian artist El Lissitzky opened in mid-November. The exhibitions can be viewed until February 18. Porusski magazine decided to find out who El Lissitzky is, why he is called an outstanding figure of the avant-garde, why you need to visit both exhibitions and how they differ.

Designer (self-portrait), 1924. From the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery

The very name of El Lissitzky, whether you know it or not, seems unconventional and futuristic. This is exactly what the avant-garde artists themselves were like. At the beginning of the 20th century, representatives of this movement in art sought to find new means of expression, radically different from the previous ones. They experimented, pushed boundaries and created new artistic reality future. Lissitzky was no exception. He distinguished himself in many genres of art - he was an architect, artist, engineer, graphic designer, photographer and typographer. Almost everywhere, Lissitzky is a recognized innovator, and therefore an outstanding avant-garde artist. Lissitzky achieved significant success in book design, in graphic design, in photography, in the revival of Jewish art. However, among his iconic ideas are prouns, horizontal skyscrapers and an innovative approach to organizing exhibition space. It is for these reasons that Lissitzky is considered an outstanding figure of the avant-garde, because his universal talent gave the world unique artistic solutions.

Prouns

El Lissitzky. Proun. 1920

Let's start getting acquainted with the very important invention Lissitzky - prounov. Proun is a neologism, an abbreviation for the ambitious “project of affirmation of the new.” Since 1920, El Lissitzky began working in the style of Suprematism, actively interacting with Malevich. Suprematism was expressed in combinations of simple multi-colored geometric figures that formed Suprematist compositions. According to Malevich, Suprematism is a full-fledged creation of the artist, his pure fantasy, an abstract creation. Thus, he freed the artist from subordination to real objects of the surrounding world.

Initially, Lissitzky was fascinated by the concept of Suprematism, but soon he became more interested not in the ideological content, but in practical use suprematist ideas. It is then that he creates prouns - a new artistic system, which connected the idea geometric plane with volume. Lissitzky comes up with real three-dimensional models consisting of multi-colored volumetric figures. These models serve as a prototype of innovative architectural solutions - a futuristic city of the future. Lissitzky called prouns “a transfer station on the way from painting to architecture.” Prouns allow you to take a different look at the organization of space – both pictorial and real.

Horizontal skyscrapers

El Lissitzky “Horizontal skyscraper in Moscow. View of Strastnoy Boulevard» 1925

At the beginning of the 20th century, avant-garde artists made history - they invented cities of the future, laid down new artistic and aesthetic values, strived for crystal functionality and practicality. In 1924-1925 El Lissitsky presents an unusual project on the square at the Nikitsky Gate - horizontal skyscrapers. They became a logical continuation of the idea of ​​prouns, which were transformed from painting into an architectural object. Like prouns, skyscrapers look like simple geometric shapes. But this time, prouns have become a strictly functional invention.

The horizontal parts of the skyscrapers would house central institutions, and the vertical supports would house elevators and stairs. One of the supports was planned to be connected to the metro. Lissitzky set himself an ambitious goal - to obtain a maximum usable area with minimal support. He planned to erect eight skyscrapers in the center of Moscow - they would completely change the appearance of the city, turning it into a city of the future. Here Lissitzky showed himself to be a real urbanist. However, the concept of horizontal skyscrapers was too innovative for its time. It was never implemented in Russia. Lissitzky's architectural solutions had a significant impact on world architecture. Prototypes of horizontal skyscrapers were built in other countries.

Exhibition space

Another innovative solution by El Lissitzky was once again inspired by the Prouns. In 1923 he created a proun room for the Bolshoi Art exhibition in Berlin. This is a three-dimensional space in which the geometric shapes of the prouns have become truly three-dimensional - they literally grew out of the walls. At that time, exhibitions were organized according to simple principle– all works and objects were hung in a row on the walls. Lissitzky turns the exhibition space itself into an installation, an art object that actively interacts with the viewer. In the proun room, the viewer found himself in a three-dimensional space that changed depending on the angle at which it was viewed. The room and the objects placed in it are transformed, inviting the audience to interact and involving them in the process of creating the exhibition. This approach to organizing exhibition space was a new word in exhibition design.

Today we have unique opportunity visit the first large-scale retrospective of the pioneer of Russian and world avant-garde El Lissitzky in Russia. The purpose of dividing the retrospective into two exhibitions is to more fully reveal Lissitzky’s multifaceted work. The curators gave us a chance to reflect - by visiting one of the parts of the exhibition, we can take a time out and digest what we saw. And when we are ready, go to the next exhibition to get to know the artist’s work even more deeply.

The main difference between the exhibitions is that they are dedicated to different periods of El Lissitzky’s work. At the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, the exhibition tells about the initial Jewish period of the artist’s work. Here you can see Lissitzky's early works. The Tretyakov Gallery presents the main avant-garde period of creativity. Here you will get acquainted with famous designs, architectural projects, sketches exhibition design and photography. Before visiting, we recommend downloading Alena Donetskaya’s guide and grabbing headphones - the former editor of Russian Vogue will compile great company in the study of Lissitzky's universe.

You can start getting acquainted with the retrospective in chronological order from the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center - this part the exhibition helps to understand the origins of Lissitzky’s work, talks about the influence Jewish roots on the artist’s work and introduces viewers to his unique style. In turn, the exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery represents the avant-garde period of creativity and includes iconic works by the artist. Our advice: forget about chronology. If you decide to visit the first exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery, then you will even more want to know what influenced Lissitzky. If you first go to the Jewish Museum, then you will ultimately not avoid the Tretyakov Gallery, because it is there that you will learn how Lissitzky’s artistic and architectural talent developed. It's a matter of accents, and how to place them is up to you to decide.

Anya Steblyanskaya

An esthete, a bit of a traveler, a connoisseur of literature, spacious museums and cinema. He believes that Pushkin is our everything.