Alexander Rodchenko
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Nonobjectivity appeared, contemporary with cubism, in the paintings of the Russian Wassily Kandinsky ( 1866-1944), who, with a thorough understanding of the psychological effect of each element, and of the interrelationship of elements, composed paintings devoid of representational content which convey, like music, certain moods or “soul states”. Completely nonobjective painting is found also in the work of the Russians Kasimir Malevich (1878— 1935 ) and Alexander Rodchenko (1891- ), and of the neoplasticists of the Netherlands, of whom Piet Cornelis Mondrian (1872-1944) is perhaps the best known. Composition in White, Black and Red is organized into so perfect an asymmetrical balance of lines, areas, and colors that no change, even infinitesimal, is possible without disturbing that balance. The colors used are black, white, and a small amount of red; and the lines are a balance of verticals and horizontals, with no curve and no diagonal." --Gardner's Art Through the Ages (1926) by Helen Gardner |
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Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (December 5, 1891 – December 3, 1956) was a Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer. He was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design; he was married to the artist Varvara Stepanova.
Rodchenko was one of the most versatile Constructivist and Productivist artists to emerge after the Russian Revolution. He worked as a painter and graphic designer before turning to photomontage and photography. His photography was socially engaged, formally innovative, and opposed to a painterly aesthetic. Concerned with the need for analytical-documentary photo series, he often shot his subjects from odd angles—usually high above or below—to shock the viewer and to postpone recognition. He wrote: "One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again."
