Rodchenko, Alexander Mikhailovich

In 1911-1914 he studied at the Kazan Art School, in 1916 he moved to Moscow. Exhibited as a painter in 1916, one of the organizers of the trade union painters in 1917. From 1918 to 1922 he worked in the department Of Narcompros (Department of Fine Arts of the People's Commissariat of Education) as the head of the museum offices and as a member of the artistic board.

At the same time developed a series of graphic, pictorial and spatial abstract geometric minimalist works. Since 1916 has participated in important exhibitions of Russian avant-garde in architectural competitions and the work of the commission Zhivskulptarh (Commission on painting, sculpture and architectural synthesis). In the texts, manifestos 'All - Experiments' and 'line' recorded his creative credo. To the arts as the invention of new forms and features, viewed his work as a huge experiment in which each work is a minimal element in the form of beautiful and has limited means of expression. In 1917-18 he worked with the plane, . in 1919 wrote "Black on black", . work, . based only on the invoice, . in 1919-1920 introduced lines and points as separate forms of painting, . 1921 at the exhibition '5 x5 = 25 '(Moscow) showed a triptych of three monochrome colors (yellow, . red, . blue),
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Along with painting and graphics the spatial structures. First cycle - 'Folding and savvy' (1918) - from flat-lined items, . second - 'Planes, . reflecting the light '(1920-1921) - free hanging mobilization of cut from plywood concentric shapes (circle, . square, . ellipse, . triangle and hexagon), . third - 'By the principle of identical forms' (1920-21) - the spatial structure of the standard wooden bars, . connected by a combinatorial principle,
. In 1921, summed up his paintings searches and announced the transition to a 'production art'.

In 1920 became a professor of Faculty of Painting, in 1922 - 1930 - Professor of Faculty of metal VKhUTEMAS-VHUTEINa (Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops - Higher Art and Technical Institute). Taught students to design multi-functional items for everyday life and public buildings, . seeking forms of expression are not at the expense of ornaments, . and by identifying design objects, . ingenious invention transforms the structure,
. In 1920-1924 he was a member of INKhuK.

Since 1923 he worked as a designer of a universal profile. He was engaged in printing, photomontage and advertising graphics (with In. Mayakovsky), was a member of LEF (Left Front), was later a member of the editorial board of the journal 'New LEF'.

In 1925 he was sent to Paris for registration of the Soviet section of the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts and the art industry, operates in a kind interior project 'Workers' Club'.

Since 1924 engaged in photography. Known for its ostrodokumentalnymi psychological portraits of loved ones ( 'Portrait of Mother', 1924), friends and acquaintances from LEF (portraits of Mayakovsky, L. and O. Brik Aseeva Tretyakov), artists and architects (Vesnin, Gan, Popova). In 1926 he published his first rakursnye pictures of buildings (the series 'House on the Butcher', 1925, 'House Mosselprom', 1926) in the journal 'Soviet cinema'. The articles 'Paths of Modern Photography', . 'Against summed portrait of a snapshot' and 'Major ignorance or petty nastiness' promoted the new, . dynamic, . documented the precise view of the world, . defended the need to develop upper and lower points of view in photography,
. Participated in the exhibition 'The Soviet picture in 10 years' (1928, Moscow).

In the late 20's and early 30-ies was a photographer in the newspaper "Evening Moscow", journal '30 Days', 'Give', 'Pioneer', 'Ogonek' and 'listener'. At the same time he worked in film (the artist films 'Moscow in October', 1927, 'Journalist', 1927-28, 'Doll with millions' and 'Albidum', 1928) and theater (performances 'Inga' and 'Bug', 1929), designing original furniture, costumes and decorations.

One of the organizers and leaders fotogruppy 'October'. In 1931 the exhibition of 'October' in Moscow in the House version exhibited a series of panel images - taken from the bottom of the 'Pioneer' and 'Pioneer trumpeter', . 1930; a series of dynamic frames 'Sawmill Vakhtan', . 1931 - served as the target of harsh criticism and accusations of formalism and unwillingness to restructure in accordance with the objectives of 'proletarian photos',
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In 1932, out of the 'October' and became a photographer for the Moscow publishing Izogiz. From 1933 he worked as a painter-decorator magazine USSR in Construction ', '10 years of Uzbek photo', 'First Horse', 'Red Army', "The Soviet Air Force 'and the other (jointly with his wife in. Stepanova). He continued his studies in painting in the 30 th and 40 th years. He was a member of the jury and the designer of many photo exhibitions, was a member of the presidium of the trade union fotosektsii kinofotorabotnikov, was a member of the Moscow Union (Moscow organization of the Union of Artists of the USSR) in 1932. In 1936 participated in the 'Exhibition of Soviet photography masters'. Since 1928 regularly sent their photographic works at the salons in the United States, France, Spain, Britain, Czechoslovakia and other countries.

Literature:

Chan-Magomedov SO. Rodchenko. The complete work. London, 1986

Rodchenko and Stepanova VF. (From the series Masters of the art book). M., 1989

Alexandr M. Rodchenko, Varvara F. Stepanova: The Future Is Our Only Goal. Munich, 1991

AN Lavrent'ev. Racurs Rodchenko. M., 1992

Alexander Lavrentiev. Alexander Rodchenko. Photography. 1924-1954. Kln, 1995

Alexander Rodchenko. Experiments for the Future. M., 1996

Alexandr Rodchenko. (Published in conjunction with the exhibition Alexandr Rodchenko at the Museum of Modern Art). New-York, 1998