The early 20th century was transformed by new technologies. Architects and designers were inspired by the machine. In this era, Russia was becoming industrialised. The machine seemed to be transforming society, and it was a perfect metaphor for the revolution. Russia became a breeding ground for Modernism. A movement emerged called Russian Constructivism, which was basically the Russian version of Modernism. It used the Modernist machine aesthetic for political purposes.
This is a decorative screen from c.1930 [Fig. 1]. It illustrates the importance of agriculture and farming in the Russian economy. But they are using tractors; agriculture has been mechanised. There is also a train with the red star of Communism. The image shows Russia being transformed from a rural peasant country into an industrial power. That enthusiasm for the machine was the essence of Modernism. The whole composition is rendered in angular, dynamic graphics that are full of energy. This is the Constructivist style.
Fig. 1 Decorative screen
The Russian Revolution followed the ideas of Karl Marx, who invented Communism. He believed that the culture of a society was determined by the economic system of that society. The leader of the new Russian state was Vladimir Lenin. He also believed that culture must support political needs, which effectively meant that all culture was viewed as propaganda.
Lenin set up a number of agencies to regulate Soviet art and culture. The most important was called Proletkult, or the Organisation for Proletarian Culture. It was run by the People's Commissar of Education, Anatoliy Lunacharsky. Many of the leading designers were commissioned to create works that mythologised the revolution. For example, the graphic designer Kotscherguin produced a Communist poster for an issue of The Red Worker in 1920 [Fig. 2].
Fig. 2 The Red Worker
It depicts a heroic figure, who crucially is anonymous - he is drawn as a silhouette. Communism is not about the individual, it's about the masses. It depicts the forward march of progress. There is a parade of workers with red communist banners. The skyline is made up of factories generating wealth for the state and transforming society. The sun is drawn as a whirring cog.
In the 1920s, Russia was still a peasant country. Most of the population was illiterate - the emphasis was on visual propaganda. Constructivist designers were recruited to create Agit-Prop trains that toured the country. They were covered with Modernist graphic design that could spread the revolutionary message to Russia's illiterate population.
It was felt that art should be proletarian - or working class - and it should be urban and industrial. A founder of the Constructivist movement was Vladimir Tatlin, who believed that design was linked to engineering rather than art. He saw the designer as an anonymous worker serving society. He designed the Monument to the Third International (1919-20), which was meant to be a 400m tall tower made of iron, glass and steel [Fig. 3]. It would have been taller than the Eiffel Tower. High costs prevented Tatlin from executing the plan. In fact, only a scaled-down model was ever built, but it's the perfect example of Russia's use of the machine aesthetic.
Fig. 3 Monument to the Third International
This represents the union of art and construction - it has a sculptural form of two intertwining spirals rendered in a lattice construction suggestive of engineering. As well as resembling a machine, the tower actually functioned as one: it featured four volumes that rotated at different speeds (yearly, monthly, daily and hourly). These were intended to house government offices for legislation, administration and information, as well as a cinema. So it was a giant machine in itself. It was a giant communications centre that would proclaim revolutionary messages.
One of the best graphic designers was Varvara Stepanova. She introduced the technique of photomontage into her work. At this time, photography was still a relatively new medium and designers were excited by the possibilities it offered. The juxtaposition of images replicated the fast-paced, chaotic reality of modern life. It was an inherently Modernism medium. Photomontage was analogous to editing in film, and Russian directors like Sergei Eisenstein began experimenting with dynamic editing in films like Battleship Potemkin.
This is an image that Stepanova produced for a volume called The Results of the First Five-Year Plan (1932) [Fig. 4]. It uses the machine aesthetic. This is an image of an electricity pylon. Revolutionaries genuinely believed that the machine could transform society, in this case by spreading electrical power around the country. But the pylon is also used for its visual properties - it has been arranged with sharp diagonals, giving the image a sense of dynamism. This is a photo of Lenin presiding over the revolution.
Fig. 4 The Results of the First Five-Year Plan
To begin with, the Russian Revolution was a people's revolution. It was meant to liberate the worker and to share wealth among the people. The Constructivist movement celebrated the machine as a metaphor for how society could be transformed. So Russia provided a breeding ground for Modernism. This optimistic period came to an end with the death of Lenin.
