El Lissitzky

Art Appreciation

Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, also known as El Lissitzky, was born on November 23, 1890. The Russian artist and designer was an important figure of the Russian avant-garde's Suprematism art movement.

Born in a small Jewish town of Pochinok, El Lissitzky started drawing at a young age. In 1909, he studied architectural engineering at Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany. After traveling throughout Europe, and learning about ancient Jewish culture, he returned to Moscow and attended the Polytechnic Institute of Riga.

While working for architectural firms, El Lissitzky further explored his interest in Jewish culture by studying traditional architecture and ornaments of old synagogues and illustrating Yiddish children's books.

El Lissitzky returned to Vitebsk, in 1919, to teach graphic art, printing, and architecture at the People's Art School. There, he designed and printed propaganda posters that favored Bolsheviks.

Along with Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitzky introduced an art movement known as Suprematism, a form of abstract art which relies heavily on basic geometric forms and color. For El Lissitzky, many of his work, during this time, were heavily political. He then started to explore and further develop the suprematist style to create a series of abstract and geometic paintings known as Proun--defined as "the station where one changes from painting to architecture."

In 1921, El Lissitzky moved to Berlin and became the cultural representative of Russia, where he established contacts between Russian and German artists. While in Berlin, he developed his career as a graphic designer. He also proposed and developed the idea of the Wolkenbügel, a horizontal skyscraper.

In 1928, El Lissitzky presented a program that revolved around the theme of a film show. It featured continuous presentations of movies, propagandist newsreels and animation.

El Lissitzky died in Moscow on December 30, 1941.

You can see more of his work HERE.

Mathematics Textbook (1919) via artoftherussias

Proun 10 (1919) via archibuild

Red Wedge Beats the White Circle (1919) via thecharnelhouse

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Lissitzky
http://www.designishistory.com/1920/el-lissitzky/
https://www.moma.org/artists/3569
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-lissitzky-el.htm
https://youtu.be/fw2_v3nYZRY
https://artoftherussias.wordpress.com/category/jewish/el-lissitzky/