Russian Constructivism - art movement
The constructivists believed art should directly reflect the modern industrial world. Vladimir Tatlin was crucially influenced by Pablo Picasso’s cubist constructions (Construction 1914) which he saw in Picasso’s studio in Paris in 1913. These were three-dimensional still lifes made of scrap materials. Tatlin began to make his own but they were completely abstract and made of industrial materials.
By 1921 Russian artists who followed Tatlin’s ideas were calling themselves constructivists and in 1923 a manifesto was published in their magazine Lef:
"The material formation of the object is to be substituted for its aesthetic combination. The object is to be treated as a whole and thus will be of no discernible ‘style’ but simply a product of an industrial order like a car, an aeroplane and such like. Constructivism is a purely technical mastery and organisation of materials."
Constructivism was suppressed in Russia in the 1920s but was brought to the West by Naum Gabo and his brother Antoine Pevsner and has been a major influence on modern sculpture.
Bauhaus Movement
"The Bauhaus was arguably the single most influential modernist art school of the 20th century. Its approach to teaching, and to the relationship between art, society, and technology, had a major impact both in Europe and in the United States long after its closure under Nazi pressure in 1933. The Bauhaus was influenced by 19th and early-20th-century artistic schools such as the Arts and Crafts movement, as well as Art Nouveau and its related styles, including the Jugendstil and Vienna Secession. All of these movements sought to level the distinction between the fine and applied arts, and to reunite creativity and manufacturing; their legacy was reflected in the romantic medievalism of the Bauhaus ethos during its early years, when it fashioned itself as a kind of craftsmen's guild. But by the mid-1920s this vision had given way to a stress on uniting art and industrial design, and it was this which underpinned the Bauhaus's most original and important achievements. The school is also renowned for its extraordinary faculty, who subsequently led the development of modern art - and modern thought - throughout Europe and the United States."
El Lissitzky
Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, known as El Lissitzky, was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer, polemicist and architect.
Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge 1919
Propaganda Poster
László Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.
K VII 1922
Alexander Rodchenko
Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko 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.
Soviet propaganda graphic design 1924
Varvara Stepanova
Varvara Fyodorovna Stepanova was a Russian artist associated with the Constructivist movement.
Design for unisex sports apparel 1928
Marianne Brandt
Marianne Brandt, German painter, sculptor, photographer and designer who studied at the Bauhaus school and became head of the metal workshop in 1928. Today, Brandt's designs for household objects such as lamps, ashtrays and teapots are considered the timeless examples of modern industrial design.
Coffee and Tea Set 1924
Bibliography:
https://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/constructivism
http://www.designishistory.com/1920/el-lissitzky/
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/laszlo-moholy-nagy-1649
https://artlistr.com/aleksandr-rodchenko-6-interesting-facts/
https://arthistoryproject.com/artists/varvara-stepanova/unisex-sports-apparel/
https://www.bauhaus100.com/the-bauhaus/people/masters-and-teachers/marianne-brandt/