Alexander Rodchenko: life and work

Alexander Michailovich Rodchenko, a constructivist and designer, spent his entire adult life in creative pursuits. He did not always find understanding from the state, and then the work was stagnant, and in the soul - longing. Especially this marks the last years of life.

Childhood and youth

In the family of theatrical props and laundresses in 1891, Alexander's son was born. Eleven years later they moved to Kazan. There in 1905 Rodchenko graduated from the primary parish school. Parents dreamed that the son will learn and become a dental technician - a specialty of a secured person, and a teenager wants to draw. From the age of 20 and until the outbreak of World War I, he has been working in Kazan, an art school, for four years, where he will meet Varya Stepanova, who will then become a friend and companion for life. But in 1914 he was taken into the army and sent to the Moscow zemstvo, where he manages the economy of a medical train.

Moscow

Since 1916, Alexander Rodchenko began to conduct experiments with painting and participate in V. Tatlin's exhibitions, in which he exhibits his avant-garde paintings. You can relate to the avant-garde in different ways. In these works, someone will find a deep meaning in the invented new forms, because something the artist thought about when creating paintings. Alexander Rodchenko considered his creative search as a method of investigation. After all, he wrote programs in which he recorded his beliefs. And in the paintings made up of geometric forms, he tried to reveal the depth of space and the shape of the elements.

Organizational activity in Moscow

In 1917, artists create a professional union. Alexander Rodchenko is quite Formed man, he is 26 years old, he is full of energy and, being the secretary of the trade union, he takes up the organization of the life of young artists. In addition, he participates in the design of the Pittoresk cafe, and also serves in the People's Commissariat for Education.

Creation

In 1923, Mayakovsky's book "About This" was published. To her, Rodchenko created brilliant illustrations. Photo collages included portraits of the creator and his lover Lily Brick. The book was ambiguously received by contemporaries. The design intensified the frankness of the drama. For example, Lunacharsky was ecstatic about the poem, but was skeptical about its design, Rodchenko's work was too innovative. This book was a continuation of their joint design work on posters. In the 1920s, the language of the poster changed dramatically - it became extremely catchy, laconic, informative. From Western Europe, he was very different from his innovative forms. Mayakovsky and Rodchenko in tandem created political agitation posters in the framework of constructivism in the years 23-25 . In this short period, several appeals have been created to appeal to Mosselprom, among which the most striking are "Cheap bread" and "Nowhere else ...", as well as Rubinrestrade sausages, GUM advertising. In addition to catchy texts, they are distinguished by visual means of influence: simple contrasting bright colors, strange foreshortenings. And also used inclined, vertical and horizontal lines, font of different sizes. All together, it could not but draw attention and not convince.

A new kind of art

Accidentally revealed the following facet of the talent of this extraordinary man - photo art. Alexander Rodchenko was forced to photograph his theatrical work. What's amazing is that the ideas are simply gushing in the 1920s. The question arises: when did he manage to implement them all? Did he work for 24 hours? Discovering a new kind of art, he with all fervor gave himself to him. He caught the moments of life everywhere and created masterpieces. He shot people and objects from unusual points, took angles from an angle, took pictures from below and from above, and created portraits. It was also a pavilion shooting, and on the streets of the city, and in nature.

In the 1930s, Rodchenko was accused of being bourgeois because he was shooting a pioneer who was blowing a trumpet. But he continued to work, not adjusting to the demands of the authorities. The case ended with the fact that in 51 he was expelled from the Union of Artists. It was a dark period in his life and in the life of his wife Varvara Stepanova. But everything was settled after Stalin's death, and in 54 Rodchenko was restored to the ranks of artists. Two years later, in 1956, Rodchenko passed away. He was 64 years old.

But he did so much that his archives need to continue to explore and make photo exhibitions of his works, as they reflect time and have not lost artistic expressiveness.