Certain aspects of art and theory in Russia from 1905 to 1924 in their relationship to the development of avant-garde art and ideas in the West

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with movements in Russia during the first quarter of the twentieth-century, now generally called "formalist". They comprise mainly Futurism, Cubo-futurism, Rayonism, Suprematiem, Constructivism and Productivism. These titles often extend to poetry, theatre, film and architecture due to collaboration between art forms. To be specifically considered is their relationship to earlier Russian art; to Western European movements and to philosophical ideas which conditioned artists' concepts of reality and helped them formulate theories. The first part of the thesis (Chapters I-XXI) describes mainly movements before the 1917 revolution, and the second part, postrevolutionary art before the re-establishment of realism.Russia and Italy were both witnessing rapid industrialisation and social change behind which politics and art were lagging. The speed of modern inventions in industry, massproduction, aeroplanes and cars were seen by many Italian and Russian artists as being the most relevant subjects to inspire the art of the future. But Russian "Futurism" was more concerned with "primitivism" while the Italians stressed "dynamism". The thirteenth chapter discusses Marinetti's visit to Russia which emphasised their differences. Artists wishing to justify and explain new pictorial experiments verbally adopted the example of revolutionary political societies who published manifestoes and policy statements.Chapter fifteen discusses the exhibitions "Tramway V" and "0.10" held in 1915. Here the division between the non-objective Suprematism of Malevich and Tatlin's constructions with objects of real materials first became obvious. It was out of a simplified Cubo-Futurism that Suprematism emerged and after 1920 it extended to models in an "architectonic" spirit while Tatlin's example was to inspire real objects of engineering construction and production.