El Lissitzky was a Russian born artist, designer, typographer, photographer and architect who designed many exhibitions and propaganda for the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. Lissitzky believed that art and life could be intertwined. He identified the graphic arts, particularly posters and books, and architecture as effective conduits for reaching the public.
Although often highly abstract and theoretical, Lissitzky's work was able speak to the prevailing political discourse of his native Russia, and then the nascent Soviet Union. Theses were often unfiltered political messages along with elementary shapes and colours. A simple poster by Lissitzky could make a strong statement for political change and a building could evoke ideas of communality and egalitarianism.
Lissitzky’s artistic interests at the time were exclusively centred on Jewish themes and culture. He took part in Semyon Ansky’s ethnographical expedition investigating the monuments of Jewish culture.
"Had Gadya" is a song that is sung by Jewish families on the first evening of Passover. It tells the tale of a billy goat (representing the Jewish people) who is attacked by a cat, which is in turn attacked by a dog. These animals represent the oppressors of Jews throughout history.
This 1919 version, created for a children's book, features quaint, naturalistic animals contained within curvilinear compartments that overlap. These geometric elements - harbingers in a sense - speak not to the overt simplicity of Lissitzky's later style, but they also create a sense of movement within the composition.
His development of the ideas behind the Suprematist art movement were very influential in the development of the Bauhaus and the Constructivist art movements. His stylistic characteristics and experimentation with production techniques developed in the 1920s and 30s.
In his early years he developed a style of painting in which he used abstract geometric shapes, which he referred to as "prouns", to define the spatial relationships of his compositions.
The shapes were developed in a 3-dimensional space, that often contained varying perspectives, which was a direct contrast to the ideas of suprematist theories which stressed the simplification of shapes and the use of 2D space only. The end result for his prouns was ideally to create an ongoing tension between open, negative, three-dimensional space and flat, purely abstract, geometric forms.
He moved around in the 1920s and spent time in Germany as a cultural representative of Russia it was at this point in his life where he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. But this never stopped him from working as he continued to produce propaganda posters, books, buildings and exhibitions for the Soviet Union.
In 1932 Stalin, soviet politician at the time, demanded that artists conform to much stricter guidelines or be blacklisted, Lissitzky managed to retain his position as head of exhibitions. In 1941 his tuberculosis overcame him and caused his death.
Lissitzky's influence in the world of graphic design cannot be overstated. He utilised a palette of primary colours, black and white, text, and basic forms - shapes both real as well as invented geometric constructions - to tell stories, including traditional Jewish tales, and to make very powerful political statements.
Until Next Time, Live and Laugh,
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