Rodchenko, Aleksandr Mikhailovich

Rodchenko, Aleksandr Mikhailovich

▪ Russian artist
born Nov. 23 [Dec. 5, New Style], 1891, St. Petersburg, Russia
died Dec. 3, 1956, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.

      Soviet painter, sculptor, designer, and photographer, an important member of the Constructivist movement.

      Rodchenko studied art at the Kazan School of Art in Odessa from 1910 to 1914 and then went to Moscow. He soon abandoned a Futurist style of painting in favour of a completely abstract, highly geometric style using a ruler and compass. His first major show was part of an exhibition organized in Moscow in 1916 by Vladimir Tatlin, and in 1918 Rodchenko presented a one-man show in Moscow. In the latter year he painted a series of black-on-black geometric paintings in response to the famous “White on White” painting of his rival, Kazimir Malevich. In 1919 Rodchenko began to make three-dimensional constructions out of wood, metal, and other materials, again using geometric shapes in dynamic compositions; some of these hanging sculptures were, in effect, mobiles.

      Rodchenko led a wing of artists in the Constructivist movement—the Productivist group—who wanted to forge closer ties between the arts and industry and to produce works that they considered more appropriate in the daily lives of worker-consumers. He thus renounced easel painting in the 1920s and took up other art forms, among them photography; poster, book, and typographic design; furniture design; and stage and motion-picture set design. He held various government offices concerned with art-related projects, helped to establish art museums, and taught art.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Rodchenko, Aleksandr (Mikhailovich) — born Dec. 5, 1891, St. Petersburg, Russia died Dec. 3, 1956, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R. Russian painter, sculptor, designer, and photographer. He initially embraced a completely abstract, highly geometric style, using a ruler and compass. His… …   Universalium

  • Aleksandr — (as used in expressions) Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandr Nikolayevich Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Borodin Aleksandr Porfiryevich Glazunov Aleksandr Konstantinovich Gorchakov Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prince Gorsky Aleksandr… …   Universalium

  • Mikhailovich — (as used in expressions) Bakhtin Mikhail Mikhailovich Dimitrov Georgi Mikhailovich Gorchakov Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prince Rodchenko Aleksandr Mikhailovich * * * …   Universalium

  • Rodchenko — /rod cheng koh/; Russ. /rddawt chyin keuh/, n. Aleksandr (Mikhailovich) /al ig zan deuhr, zahn , mi kay leuh vich/; Russ. /u lyi ksahn drdd myi khuy leuh vyich/, 1891 1956, Soviet painter, photographer, and designer. * * * …   Universalium

  • Rodchenko — /rod cheng koh/; Russ. /rddawt chyin keuh/, n. Aleksandr (Mikhailovich) /al ig zan deuhr, zahn , mi kay leuh vich/; Russ. /u lyi ksahn drdd myi khuy leuh vyich/, 1891 1956, Soviet painter, photographer, and designer …   Useful english dictionary

  • Russia — /rush euh/, n. 1. Also called Russian Empire. Russian, Rossiya. a former empire in E Europe and N and W Asia: overthrown by the Russian Revolution 1917. Cap.: St. Petersburg (1703 1917). 2. See Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 3. See Russian… …   Universalium

  • constructivism — constructivist, n., adj. /keuhn struk teuh viz euhm/, n. (sometimes cap.) 1. Fine Arts. a nonrepresentational style of art developed by a group of Russian artists principally in the early 20th century, characterized chiefly by a severely formal… …   Universalium

  • photography, history of — Introduction       method of recording the image of an object through the action of light, or related radiation, on a light sensitive material. The word, derived from the Greek photos (“light”) and graphein (“to draw”), was first used in the… …   Universalium

  • List of Russians — This is a list of people associated with Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and Russia of today. For a long time Russia has been a multinational country, and many people of different ethnicity contributed to its culture, to its glory, and to its… …   Wikipedia

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