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86-452: The museum has an area of 9,825 m and holds one of the largest collections of paintings in the world by El Lissitzky . It also has works by Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky . The museum's original collection was bought by the Eindhoven city council in 1934 in an agreement with Henri van Abbe , a private collector and local cigar manufacturer. In return for buying some of his collection,

172-623: A calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and 1923. In England , Wales , Ireland and Britain's American colonies , there were two calendar changes, both in 1752. The first adjusted the start of a new year from 25 March ( Lady Day , the Feast of the Annunciation ) to 1 January,

258-535: A change which Scotland had made in 1600. The second discarded the Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar, skipping 11 days in the month of September to do so. To accommodate the two calendar changes, writers used dual dating to identify a given day by giving its date according to both styles of dating. For countries such as Russia where no start-of-year adjustment took place, O.S. and N.S. simply indicate

344-406: A distinctly Art Nouveau flair. His next book was a visual retelling of the traditional Jewish Passover song Had gadya (One Goat), in which Lissitzky showcased a typographic device that he would often return to in later designs. In the book, he integrated letters with images through a system that matched the color of the characters in the story with the word referring to them. In the designs for

430-480: A dynamic design that mirrors his contemporary Proun typography. This theme was extended into his illustrations for the Shifs-Karta ( Yiddish : שיפֿס קאַרטע ; Passenger Ticket ) book. In 1921, roughly concurrent with the demise of UNOVIS, suprematism was beginning to fracture into two ideologically adverse halves, one favoring Utopian, spiritual art and the other a more utilitarian art that served society. Lissitzky

516-454: A letter dated "12/22 Dec. 1635". In his biography of John Dee , The Queen's Conjurer , Benjamin Woolley surmises that because Dee fought unsuccessfully for England to embrace the 1583/84 date set for the change, "England remained outside the Gregorian system for a further 170 years, communications during that period customarily carrying two dates". In contrast, Thomas Jefferson , who lived while

602-629: A lifetime friend of Lissitzky since early childhood, who exposed Lissitzky to conflicts between different groups within the diaspora. Also in 1912 some of his pieces were included for the first time in an exhibit by the St. Petersburg Artists Union; a notable first step. He remained in Germany until the outbreak of World War I, when he was forced to return home through Switzerland and the Balkans , along with many of his countrymen, including other expatriate artists born in

688-676: A narrative structure that was completely original. Each issue focused on a particular issue of the time – a new dam being built, constitutional reforms, Red Army progress and so on. In 1941, his tuberculosis worsened, but he continued to produce works, one of his last being a propaganda poster for Russia's efforts in World War II , titled " Davaite pobolshe tankov! " (Give us more tanks!). He died on 30 December 1941, in Moscow. Old Style and New Style dates Old Style ( O.S. ) and New Style ( N.S. ) indicate dating systems before and after

774-479: A new art), a proto-suprematist association of students, professors, and other artists. After a brief and stormy dispute between "old" and "young" generations, and two rounds of renaming, the group reemerged as UNOVIS (Exponents of the new art) in February. Under the leadership of Malevich the group worked on a "suprematist ballet", choreographed by Nina Kogan and on the remake of a 1913 futurist opera Victory Over

860-446: A new extension to the building, including a 27-metre-high (89 ft) tower, was designed by Abel Cahen ; it was inaugurated in 2003 by queen Beatrix . The original collection contained works by Jan Sluijters , Carel Willink and Isaac Israëls amongst others, mostly Dutch and Belgian contemporary works. The museum also bought other artworks from founder Henri van Abbe before his death in 1940. The collection developed most under

946-768: A post he would keep until 1930. He all but stopped his Proun works and became increasingly active in architecture and propaganda designs. In June 1926, Lissitzky left the country again, this time for a brief stay in Germany and the Netherlands. There he designed an exhibition room for the Internationale Kunstausstellung art show in Dresden and the Raum Konstruktive Kunst ('Room for constructivist art') and Abstraktes Kabinett shows in Hanover , and perfected

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1032-497: A renovated building. Once the extended building was opened, Debbaut retired to be replaced in 20024 by the current museum director, Charles Esche. The museum had 96,750 visitors in 2011 and 98,100 visitors in 2012. El Lissitzky Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (Russian: Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий , listen ; 23 November [ O.S. 11 November] 1890 – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (Russian: Эль Лиси́цкий ; Yiddish : על ליסיצקי ),

1118-450: A request to list the building on the heritage register. In September 2007 the city commission (Moskomnasledie) approved the request and passed it to the city government for a final approval, which did not happen. In October 2008, the abandoned building was badly damaged by fire. After two years of intensive work Lissitzky was taken ill with acute pneumonia in October 1923. A few weeks later he

1204-475: A school that Chagall created after being appointed Commissioner of Artistic Affairs for Vitebsk in 1918. Lissitzky was engaged in designing and printing propaganda posters; later, he preferred to keep quiet about this period, probably because one of main subjects of these posters was the exile Leon Trotsky . The quantity of these posters is sufficient to regard them as a separate genre in the artist's output. Chagall also invited other Russian artists, most notably

1290-878: A start-of-year adjustment works well with little confusion for events before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Agincourt is well known to have been fought on 25 October 1415, which is Saint Crispin's Day . However, for the period between the first introduction of the Gregorian calendar on 15 October 1582 and its introduction in Britain on 14 September 1752, there can be considerable confusion between events in Continental Western Europe and in British domains. Events in Continental Western Europe are usually reported in English-language histories by using

1376-419: A style his own. He stated: "The artist constructs a new symbol with his brush. This symbol is not a recognizable form of anything that is already finished, already made, or already existent in the world – it is a symbol of a new world, which is being built upon and which exists by the way of the people." On 17 January 1920, Malevich and Lissitzky co-founded the short-lived Molposnovis (Young followers of

1462-463: A variety of positions, schools, and artistic media, spreading and exchanging ideas. He took this ethic with him when he worked with Malevich in heading the suprematist art group UNOVIS , when he developed a variant suprematist series of his own, Proun , and further still in 1921, when he took up a job as the Russian cultural ambassador to Weimar Germany , working with and influencing important figures of

1548-526: Is 9 February 1649, the date by which his contemporaries in some parts of continental Europe would have recorded his execution. The O.S./N.S. designation is particularly relevant for dates which fall between the start of the "historical year" (1 January) and the legal start date, where different. This was 25 March in England, Wales, Ireland and the colonies until 1752, and until 1600 in Scotland. In Britain, 1 January

1634-577: Is also internationally renowned for having one of the largest collections of works by El Lissitzky . The Van Abbemuseum also houses the collection of posters made by the Situationist Jacqueline de Jong in Paris during May 1968. The first director was W.J.A. Visser, from 1936. He remained director until the start of the Second World War but stood down as he could not agree with the policy of

1720-510: Is energized" (Russian: всё движется, заводится, электрифицируется ). Lissitzky also designed and managed on site less demanding exhibitions like the 1930 Hygiene show in Dresden . Along with pavilion design, Lissitzky began experimenting with print media again. His work with book and periodical design was perhaps some of his most accomplished and influential. He launched radical innovations in typography and photomontage , two fields in which he

1806-448: Is natural and moving vertically is not. Thus, where there is not sufficient land for construction, a new plane created in the air at medium altitude should be preferred to an American-style tower. These buildings, according to Lissitzky, also provided superior insulation and ventilation for their inhabitants. Lissitzky, aware of severe mismatch between his ideas and the existing urban landscape, experimented with different configurations of

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1892-470: The Bauhaus and De Stijl movements during his stay. In his remaining years he brought significant innovation and change to typography , exhibition design, photomontage , and book design, producing critically respected works and winning international acclaim for his exhibition design. This continued until his deathbed, where in 1941 he produced one of his last works – a Soviet propaganda poster rallying

1978-468: The Bolshevik Revolution ). The image of the red wedge shattering the white form, simple as it was, communicated a powerful message that left no doubt in the viewer's mind of its intention. The piece is often seen as alluding to the similar shapes used on military maps and, along with its political symbolism , was one of Lissitzky's first major steps away from Malevich's non-objective suprematism into

2064-569: The Cold Synagogue ; in 1923 he published an article in Berlin Jewish journal Milgroim about the art he saw there), and illustrating many Yiddish children's books. These books were Lissitzky's first major foray in book design, a field that he would greatly influence over the course of his career. His first designs appeared in the 1917 book, Sihas hulin: Eyne fun di geshikhten (An Everyday Conversation), where he incorporated Hebrew letters with

2150-592: The Russian Empire and the very beginning of Soviet Russia . For example, in the article "The October (November) Revolution", the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the format of "25 October (7 November, New Style)" to describe the date of the start of the revolution. The Latin equivalents, which are used in many languages, are, on the one hand, stili veteris (genitive) or stilo vetere (ablative), abbreviated st.v. , and meaning "(of/in) old style" ; and, on

2236-472: The Wolkenbügels he was hired to design an actual building in Moscow. Located at 55°46′38″N 37°36′39″E  /  55.777277°N 37.610828°E  / 55.777277; 37.610828 17, 1st Samotechny Lane, it is Lissitzky's sole tangible work of architecture. It was commissioned in 1932 by Ogonyok magazine to be used as a print shop. In June 2007 the independent Russky Avangard foundation filed

2322-507: The 1925 Wolkenbügel concept in collaboration with Mart Stam . In his autobiography (written in June 1941, and later edited and released by his wife), Lissitzky wrote, "1926. My most important work as an artist begins: the creation of exhibitions." In 1926, Lissitzky joined Nikolai Ladovsky 's Association of New Architects ( ASNOVA ) and designed the only issue of the association's journal Izvestiia ASNOVA ( News of ASNOVA ) in 1926. Back in

2408-532: The 4th century , had drifted from reality . The Gregorian calendar reform also dealt with the accumulated difference between these figures, between the years 325 and 1582, by skipping 10 days to set the ecclesiastical date of the equinox to be 21 March, the median date of its occurrence at the time of the First Council of Nicea in 325. Countries that adopted the Gregorian calendar after 1699 needed to skip an additional day for each subsequent new century that

2494-579: The Boyne was commemorated with smaller parades on 1 July. However, both events were combined in the late 18th century, and continue to be celebrated as " The Twelfth ". Because of the differences, British writers and their correspondents often employed two dates, a practice called dual dating , more or less automatically. Letters concerning diplomacy and international trade thus sometimes bore both Julian and Gregorian dates to prevent confusion. For example, Sir William Boswell wrote to Sir John Coke from The Hague

2580-455: The British Isles and colonies converted to the Gregorian calendar, instructed that his tombstone bear his date of birth by using the Julian calendar (notated O.S. for Old Style) and his date of death by using the Gregorian calendar. At Jefferson's birth, the difference was eleven days between the Julian and Gregorian calendars and so his birthday of 2 April in the Julian calendar is 13 April in

2666-410: The British colonies, changed the start of the year from 25 March to 1 January, with effect from "the day after 31 December 1751". (Scotland had already made this aspect of the changes, on 1 January 1600.) The second (in effect ) adopted the Gregorian calendar in place of the Julian calendar. Thus "New Style" can refer to the start-of-year adjustment , to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar , or to

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2752-488: The German invaders. He retook the position for a short while after the war, but in 1946 Edy de Wilde took over. During De Wilde's directorship, various cubist and modern works were purchased. This included Femme en vert by Picasso (for around 110.000 Dutch guilders, at the same a considerable sum) and Hommage à Apollinaire by Marc Chagall. Nevertheless, De Wilde received criticism: the sons of van Van Abbe believed that De Wilde

2838-558: The Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Blenheim is always given as 13 August 1704. However, confusion occurs when an event involves both. For example, William III of England arrived at Brixham in England on 5 November (Julian calendar), after he had set sail from the Netherlands on 11 November (Gregorian calendar) 1688. The Battle of the Boyne in Ireland took place a few months later on 1 July 1690 (Julian calendar). That maps to 11 July (Gregorian calendar), conveniently close to

2924-466: The Gregorian calendar. Similarly, George Washington is now officially reported as having been born on 22 February 1732, rather than on 11 February 1731/32 (Julian calendar). The philosopher Jeremy Bentham , born on 4 February 1747/8 (Julian calendar), in later life celebrated his birthday on 15 February. There is some evidence that the calendar change was not easily accepted. Many British people continued to celebrate their holidays "Old Style" well into

3010-430: The Julian and Gregorian dating systems respectively. The need to correct the calendar arose from the realisation that the correct figure for the number of days in a year is not 365.25 (365 days 6 hours) as assumed by the Julian calendar but slightly less (c. 365.242 days). The Julian calendar therefore has too many leap years . The consequence was that the basis for the calculation of the date of Easter , as decided in

3096-564: The Julian calendar had added since then. When the British Empire did so in 1752, the gap had grown to eleven days; when Russia did so (as its civil calendar ) in 1918, thirteen days needed to be skipped. In the Kingdom of Great Britain and its possessions, the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 introduced two concurrent changes to the calendar. The first, which applied to England, Wales, Ireland and

3182-510: The Julian date of the subsequent (and more decisive) Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 1691 (Julian). The latter battle was commemorated annually throughout the 18th century on 12 July, following the usual historical convention of commemorating events of that period within Great Britain and Ireland by mapping the Julian date directly onto the modern Gregorian calendar date (as happens, for example, with Guy Fawkes Night on 5 November). The Battle of

3268-569: The Soviets rented the existing central pavilion, the largest building on the fairground. To make full use of it, the Soviet program designed by Lissitsky revolved around the theme of a film show, with nearly continuous presentation of the new feature films, propagandist newsreels and early animation, on multiple screens inside the pavilion and on the open-air screens. His work was praised for near absence of paper exhibits; "everything moves, rotates, everything

3354-609: The Sun by Mikhail Matyushin and Aleksei Kruchenykh . Lissitzky and the entire group chose to share credit and responsibility for the works produced within the group, signing most pieces with a black square. This was partly a homage to a similar piece by their leader, Malevich, and a symbolic embrace of the Communist ideal. This would become the de facto seal of UNOVIS that took the place of individual names or initials. Black squares worn by members as chest badges and cufflinks also resembled

3440-583: The USSR, Lissitzky designed displays for the official Soviet pavilions at the international exhibitions of the period, up to the 1939 New York World's Fair . One of his most notable exhibits was the All-Union Polygraphic Exhibit in Moscow in August–October 1927, where Lissitzky headed the design team for "photography and photomechanics" (i.e. photomontage ) artists and the installation crew. His work

3526-472: The Van Abbe factory paid for and donated the museum building, which opened in 1936. The city had architect Alexander Kropholler design a building that is a symmetrical suite of galleries in the traditionalist style . The museum name was given in publications as "Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum" until approximately 1990 and as "Van Abbemuseum" after that time. As the building had become far too small for modern demands,

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3612-512: The artist creates art with socially defined purpose, could aptly be summarized with his edict " das zielbewußte Schaffen " – "task oriented creation." Jewish themes and symbols also sometimes made appearances in his Prounen, usually with Lissitzky using Hebrew letters as part of the typography or visual code. For the cover of the 1922 book Arba'ah Teyashim ( Hebrew : אַרְבָּעָה תְיָשִים ; Four Billy Goats ; cover ), he shows an arrangement of Hebrew letters as architectural elements in

3698-532: The book, he wrote: In contrast to the old monumental art [the book] itself goes to the people, and does not stand like a cathedral in one place waiting for someone to approach ... [The book is the] monument of the future. He perceived books as permanent objects that were invested with power. This power was unique in that it could transmit ideas to people of different times, cultures, and interests, and do so in ways other art forms could not. This ambition laced all of his work, particularly in his later years. Lissitzky

3784-675: The city of Vitebsk , now part of Belarus , and later spent 10 years in Smolensk living with his grandparents and attending the Smolensk Grammar School, spending summer vacations in Vitebsk. Always expressing an interest and talent in drawing, he started to receive instruction at 13 from Yehuda Pen , a local Jewish artist, and by the time he was 15 was teaching students himself. In 1909, he applied to an art academy in Saint Petersburg , but

3870-486: The combination of the two. It was through their use in the Calendar Act that the notations "Old Style" and "New Style" came into common usage. When recording British history, it is usual to quote the date as originally recorded at the time of the event, but with the year number adjusted to start on 1 January. The latter adjustment may be needed because the start of the civil calendar year had not always been 1 January and

3956-476: The concerns of the political supervisors, and Lissitzky responded: "The simpler the shape, the finer precision and quality of execution required... yet until now [the working crews] are instructed by the foremen (Oltarzhevsky and Korostashevsky), not the authors" (i.e. Vladimir Shchuko , author of the Central Pavilion, and Lissitzky himself). His artwork, as described in 1937 proposals, completely departed from

4042-700: The directorships of Edy de Wilde and Rudi Fuchs . While De Wilde bought the classical modernist works by Picasso and similar artists, Fuchs bought works from artists of his own generation, in particular conceptual work from the US and German painting. The current director, Charles Esche has pursued a more geographically diverse collecting policy concentrating on works from central and eastern Europe including Nedko Solakov, Mladen Stilinovic, Wilhelm Sasnal, Artur Zmijewski as well as video works by Israeli artist Yael Bartana. More recent acquisitions include pieces by Pablo Picasso , Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian . The museum

4128-533: The end of the following December, 1661/62 , a form of dual dating to indicate that in the following twelve weeks or so, the year was 1661 Old Style but 1662 New Style. Some more modern sources, often more academic ones (e.g. the History of Parliament ) also use the 1661/62 style for the period between 1 January and 24 March for years before the introduction of the New Style calendar in England. The Gregorian calendar

4214-562: The final page, Lissitzky depicts the mighty "hand of God" slaying the angel of death, who wears the tsar's crown. This representation links the redemption of the Jews with the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution . An alternative view asserts that the artist was wary of Bolshevik internationalization, leading to destruction of traditional Jewish culture. Visual representations of

4300-517: The former Russian Empire, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Marc Chagall . Upon his return to Moscow, Lissitzky attended the Polytechnic Institute of Riga , which had been evacuated to Moscow because of the war, and worked for the architectural firms of Boris Velikovsky and Roman Klein . During this work, he took an active and passionate interest in Jewish culture which, after the downfall of

4386-403: The hand of God would recur in numerous pieces throughout his entire career, most notably with his 1924 photomontage self-portrait The Constructor, which prominently featured the hand. In May 1919, upon receiving an invitation from fellow Jewish artist Marc Chagall , Lissitzky returned to Vitebsk to teach graphic arts, printing, and architecture at the newly formed People's Art School –

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4472-613: The horizontal surface and height-to-width ratios so that the structure appeared balanced visually ("spatial balance is in the contrast of vertical and horizontal tensions"). The raised platform was shaped in a way that each of its four facets looked distinctly different. Each tower faced the Kremlin with the same facet, providing a pointing arrow to pedestrians on the streets. All eight buildings were planned identically, so Lissitzky proposed color-coding them for easier orientation. After some time of creating "paper architecture" projects such as

4558-532: The idea of an international artistic movement under the guidelines of constructivism while also working with Kurt Schwitters on the issue Nasci (Nature) of the periodical Merz , and continuing to illustrate children's books. The year after the publication of his first Proun series in Moscow in 1921, Schwitters introduced Lissitzky to the Hanover gallery kestnergesellschaft , where he held his first solo exhibition . The second Proun series, printed in Hanover in 1923,

4644-458: The imitation of natural shapes and focused more on the creation of distinct, geometric forms. He replaced the classic teaching program with his own and disseminated his suprematist theories and techniques school-wide. Chagall advocated more classical ideals and Lissitzky, still loyal to Chagall, became torn between two opposing artistic paths. Lissitzky ultimately favoured Malevich's suprematism and broke away from traditional Jewish art. Chagall left

4730-711: The industry, but also in the psychology of our contemporaries of art. Veshch' will champion constructive art, whose mission is not, after all, to embellish life, but to organize it. During his stay Lissitzky also developed his career as a graphic designer with some historically important works such as the books Dlia Golossa (For the Voice), a collection of poems from Vladimir Mayakovsky , and Die Kunstismen (The Artisms) together with Jean Arp . In Berlin he also met and befriended many other artists, most notably Kurt Schwitters , László Moholy-Nagy , and Theo van Doesburg . Together with Schwitters and van Doesburg, Lissitzky presented

4816-405: The modernist art of the 1920s in favor of socialist realism . The iconic statue of Stalin in front of the central pavilion was proposed by Lissitzky personally: "this will give the square its head and its face" (Russian: Это должно дать площади и голову и лицо ). In June 1938, he was only one of seventeen professionals and managers responsible for the Central Pavilion; in October 1938, he shared

4902-444: The openly antisemitic Tsarist regime, was experiencing a renaissance. The new Provisional Government repealed a decree that prohibited the printing of Hebrew letters and that barred Jews from citizenship. Thus Lissitzky soon devoted himself to Jewish art, exhibiting works by local Jewish artists, traveling together with Issachar Ber Ryback to Mahilyow to study the traditional architecture and ornaments of old synagogues (especially

4988-403: The other, stili novi or stilo novo , abbreviated st.n. and meaning "(of/in) new style". The Latin abbreviations may be capitalised differently by different users, e.g., St.n. or St.N. for stili novi . There are equivalents for these terms in other languages as well, such as the German a.St. (" alter Stil " for O.S.). Usually, the mapping of New Style dates onto Old Style dates with

5074-706: The painter and art theoretician Kazimir Malevich and Lissitzky's former teacher, Yehuda Pen. However, it was not until October 1919 when Lissitzky, then on an errand in Moscow, persuaded Malevich to relocate to Vitebsk. The move coincided with the opening of the first art exhibition in Vitebsk directed by Chagall. Malevich would bring with him a wealth of new ideas, most of which inspired Lissitzky but clashed with local public and professionals who favored figurative art and with Chagall himself. After going through Impressionism , primitivism , and Cubism , Malevich began developing and advocating his ideas on suprematism aggressively. In development since 1915, suprematism rejected

5160-414: The paintings were artistic in their own right, their use as a staging ground for his early architectonic ideas was significant. In these works, the basic elements of architecture – volume, mass, color, space and rhythm – were subjected to a fresh formulation in relation to the new suprematist ideals. Through his Prouns, utopian models for a new and better world were developed. This approach, in which

5246-647: The people to construct more tanks for the fight against Nazi Germany . In 2014, the heirs of the artist, in collaboration with Van Abbemuseum and leading worldwide scholars on the subject, established the Lissitzky Foundation in order to preserve the artist's legacy and to prepare a catalogue raisonné of the artist's oeuvre. Lissitzky was born on 23 November 1890 in Pochinok , a small Jewish community 50 kilometres (31 mi) southeast of Smolensk , former Russian Empire. During his childhood, he lived and studied in

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5332-501: The publication of this little book". Perhaps the most famous work by Lissitzky from the same period was the 1919 propaganda poster " Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge ". Russia was going through a civil war at the time, which was mainly fought between the "Reds" (communists, socialists and revolutionaries) and the "Whites" (monarchists, conservatives, liberals and other socialists who opposed

5418-404: The recent acquisitions. This was the context in which the blue monochrome canvas by Yves Klein was purchased. Leering remained director until 1973, from which date Rudi Fuchs took over. Fuchs continued until 1987 when Jan Debbaut succeeded him. Under the directorship of Debbaut, the museums's greatest changes took place, largely thanks to the increase in exhibition space through the construction of

5504-715: The responsibility for its Main Hall decoration with Vladimir Akhmetyev. He simultaneously worked on the decoration of the Soviet pavilion for the 1939 New York World's Fair ; the June 1938 commission considered Lissitzky's work along with nineteen other proposals and eventually rejected it. Lissitzky's work on the USSR in Construction magazine took his experimentation and innovation with book design to an extreme. In issue #2 he included multiple fold-out pages, presented in concert with other folded pages that together produced design combinations and

5590-617: The ritual tefillin and thus were no strange symbol in Vitebsk shtetl . The group, which disbanded in 1922, would be pivotal in the dissemination of suprematist ideology in Russia and abroad and launch Lissitzky's status as one of the leading figures in the avant garde. Incidentally, the earliest appearance of the signature Lissitzky (Russian: Эль Лисицкий ) emerged in the handmade UNOVIS Miscellany , issued in two copies in March–April 1920, and containing his manifesto on book art: "the book enters

5676-648: The school shortly thereafter. At this point Lissitzky subscribed fully to suprematism and, under the guidance of Malevich, helped further develop the movement. In 1919–1920 Lissitzky was a head of Architectural department at the People's Art School where with his students, primarily Lazar Khidekel, he was working on transition from plane to volumetric suprematism. Lissitzky designed On the New System of Art by Malevich, who responded in December 1919: "Lazar Markovich, I salute you on

5762-434: The skull through the eye not the ear therefore the pathways the waves move at much greater speed and with more intensity. if i (sic) can only sing through my mouth with a book i (sic) can show myself in various guises." During this period Lissitzky proceeded to develop a suprematist style of his own, a series of abstract , geometric paintings which he called Proun (pronounced "pro-oon"). The exact meaning of "Proun"

5848-500: The summer of 1912, Lissitzky, in his own words, "wandered through Europe", spending time in Paris and covering 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) on foot in Italy, teaching himself about fine art and sketching architecture and landscapes that interested him. His interest in ancient Jewish culture had originated during the contacts with a Paris-based group of Russian Jews led by sculptor Ossip Zadkine ,

5934-438: The time was conducted almost exclusively in flat, 2D forms and shapes, and Lissitzky, with a taste for architecture and other 3D concepts, tried to expand suprematism beyond this. His Proun works spanned over a half a decade and evolved from straightforward paintings and lithographs into fully three-dimensional installations. They would also lay the foundation for his later experiments in architecture and exhibition design. While

6020-637: Was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer , polemicist and architect. He was an important figure of the Russian avant-garde , helping develop suprematism with his mentor, Kazimir Malevich , and designing numerous exhibition displays and propaganda works for the Soviet Union . His work greatly influenced the Bauhaus and constructivist movements, and he experimented with production techniques and stylistic devices that would go on to dominate 20th-century graphic design . Lissitzky's entire career

6106-413: Was a success, utilizing new printing techniques. Later on, he met Sophie Küppers , who was the widow of Paul Küppers , an art director of the kestnergesellschaft at which Lissitzky was showing, and whom he would marry in 1927. In 1923–1925, Lissitzky proposed and developed the idea of horizontal skyscrapers ( Wolkenbügel , "cloud-hangers", "sky-hangers" or "sky-hooks"). A series of eight such structures

6192-474: Was altered at different times in different countries. From 1155 to 1752, the civil or legal year in England began on 25 March ( Lady Day ); so for example, the execution of Charles I was recorded at the time in Parliament as happening on 30 January 164 8 (Old Style). In newer English-language texts, this date is usually shown as "30 January 164 9 " (New Style). The corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar

6278-436: Was becoming more and more dependent on his wife in actual completion of his work. In 1937, Lissitzky served as the lead decorator for the upcoming All-Union Agricultural Exhibition , reporting to the master planner Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky but largely independent and highly critical of him. The project was plagued by delays and political interventions. By the end of 1937 the "apparent simplicity" of Lissitzky's artwork aroused

6364-587: Was celebrated as the New Year festival from as early as the 13th century, despite the recorded (civil) year not incrementing until 25 March, but the "year starting 25th March was called the Civil or Legal Year, although the phrase Old Style was more commonly used". To reduce misunderstandings about the date, it was normal even in semi-official documents such as parish registers to place a statutory new-year heading after 24 March (for example "1661") and another heading from

6450-438: Was devoted to the idea of creating art with power and purpose, art that could invoke change. In 1932, Stalin closed down independent artists' unions; former avant-garde artists had to adapt to the new climate or risk being officially criticised or even blacklisted. Lissitzky retained his reputation as the master of exhibition art and management into the late 1930s. His tuberculosis gradually reduced his physical abilities, and he

6536-645: Was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis ; in February 1924 he relocated to a Swiss sanatorium near Locarno . He kept very busy during his stay, working on advertisement designs for Pelikan Industries (who in turn paid for his treatment), translating articles written by Malevich into German, and experimenting heavily in typographic design and photography. In 1925, after the Swiss government denied his request to renew his visa, Lissitzky returned to Moscow and began teaching interior design, metalwork, and architecture at Vkhutemas (State Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops),

6622-504: Was fully aligned with neither and left Vitebsk in 1921. He took a job as a cultural representative of Russia and moved to Berlin where he was to establish contacts between Russian and German artists. There he also took up work as a writer and designer for international magazines and journals while helping to promote the avant-garde through various gallery shows. He started the very short-lived but impressive periodical Veshch'/Gegenstand/Objet with Russian-Jewish writer Ilya Ehrenburg . This

6708-496: Was implemented in Russia on 14 February 1918 by dropping the Julian dates of 1–13 February 1918 , pursuant to a Sovnarkom decree signed 24 January 1918 (Julian) by Vladimir Lenin . The decree required that the Julian date was to be written in parentheses after the Gregorian date, until 1 July 1918. It is common in English-language publications to use the familiar Old Style or New Style terms to discuss events and personalities in other countries, especially with reference to

6794-410: Was intended to display contemporary Russian art to Western Europe. It was a wide-ranging pan-arts publication, mainly focusing on new suprematist and constructivist works, and was published in German, French and Russian. In the first issue, Lissitzky wrote: We consider the triumph of the constructive method to be essential for our present. We find it not only in the new economy and in the development of

6880-562: Was intended to mark the major intersections of the Boulevard Ring in Moscow. Each Wolkenbügel was a flat three-story, 180-meter-wide L-shaped slab raised 50 meters above street level. It rested on three pylons (10×16×50 meters each), placed on three different street corners. One pylon extended underground, doubling as the staircase into a proposed subway station; two others provided shelter for ground-level tram stations. Lissitzky argued that as long as humans cannot fly, moving horizontally

6966-422: Was laced with the belief that the artist could be an agent for change, later summarized with his edict, " das zielbewußte Schaffen " (goal-oriented creation). Lissitzky, of Lithuanian Jewish оrigin, began his career illustrating Yiddish children's books in an effort to promote Jewish culture in Russia. When only 15 he started teaching, a duty he would maintain for most of his life. Over the years, he taught in

7052-554: Was never fully revealed, with some suggesting that it is a contraction of proekt unovisa (designed by UNOVIS) or proekt utverzhdenya novogo (Russian: проект утверждения нового ; 'Design for the confirmation of the new'). Later, Lissitzky defined them ambiguously as "the station where one changes from painting to architecture." Proun was essentially Lissitzky's exploration of the visual language of suprematism with spatial elements, utilizing shifting axes and multiple perspectives; both uncommon ideas in suprematism. Suprematism at

7138-583: Was particularly adept. He even designed a photomontage birth announcement in 1930 for his recently born son, Jen. The image itself is seen as being another personal endorsement of the Soviet Union, as it superimposed an image of the infant Jen over a factory chimney, linking Jen's future with his country's industrial progress. Around this time, Lissitzky's interest in book design escalated. In his remaining years, some of his most challenging and innovative works in this field would develop. In discussing his vision of

7224-425: Was perceived as radically new, especially when juxtaposed with the classicist designs of Vladimir Favorsky (head of the book art section of the same exhibition) and of the foreign exhibits. In the beginning of 1928, Lissitzky visited Cologne in preparation for the 1928 Pressa Show scheduled for April–May 1928. The state delegated Lissitzky to supervise the Soviet program; instead of building their own pavilion,

7310-624: Was rejected. While he passed the entrance exam and was qualified, the law under the Tsarist regime only allowed a limited number of Jewish students to attend Russian schools and universities. Like many other Jews then living in the Russian Empire, Lissitzky went to study in Germany. He left in 1909 to study architectural engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt , Germany. During

7396-452: Was showing too few of their father's works. De Wilde disagreed and continued with his one direction. He remained director until 1964, after which Jean Leering became his successor. Leering tried during his directorate to present less elitist art and heighten the museum's social engagement. He also wanted to engage a younger audience in contemporary art by inviting secondary school pupils to attend private viewings and to initiate discussion over

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