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Explanation of the exhibit
I chose to do my online exhibit on imagery found in the LEF and NOVY LEF journals, from the 1920s. Amongst the journals’ contributors were Osip Brik, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, Lyubov Popova, Sergei Eisenstein, and Dziga Vertov. The imagery stood out to me for its emphasis on design. I was drawn to the qualities of Russian Futurism, Constructivism, and Suprematism that the contributing artists of the journal used in their creations. I am interested in the idea of “production art” that the journal strives to promote. Production art was the art style of the future; defined as the formation of objects. It was to be the new purpose of artistic action, and it was to be expressed through the theories of Constructivism, Supremitism, and Futurism. At a moment in Russian art history, when artists were denouncing the arts of the Academy, especially painting, and taking up new forms brought about through technological advances, LEF and NOVY LEF documented the dramatic change. These artist believed in art being functional in implementing social change. The contributors of LEF and NOVY LEF wanted their productions to have an agency in bringing Russian mass culture into the modern industrial age.
The images in this exhibition were chosen to convey the new forms of art and design taken up by the journals’ contributors. Each image exemplifies the radicalism of each artist, during a time when Russia was striving to catch up to the west in industrial design. LEF and NOVY LEF artists wanted combine art, industry and functionalism, for the advancement of Russian society. With little to no consideration at this period for design in consumerism, Russian avant-garde (as they were to be named at a later period) artists saw it as their duty to bring design to mass culture and to make their art socially engaged. They believed that their talents were wasted in the realms of painting, and needed to work with modern media accessible to the masses.
LEF and NOVY LEF had a heavy emphasis on photography, typography, cinematic technology and textile design. These artists wished to bring Russia into the modern age through their theories and designs, and anticipated doing so through LEF and NOVY LEF. LEF and NOVY LEF were short lived publications that only saw a few thousand copies produced per issue. The journals lasted from 1923 to 1927, and while the goals of the journals were to induce creativity in the proletarian sphere, the journals were unintentionally deemed Avant-Garde soon after their runs. However, today the realms of artistry drawn out in the journals: innovations in typography, photography, and design are prevalent around the world in everyday interactions, just as the artists had hoped for during their lifetimes. We can see Lyubov Popova and Varvara Stepanova’s textile designs in the Mod and sportswear trends of New York during the 1950s and 60s. Rodchenko’s play with typography and poster styles forever changed the layouts of future journal and magazine covers. His photography, especially in NOVY LEF also influenced the popularization of photographic experimentation, like that of the close up, the bird’s eye view, and worm’s eye view.
The design and layout of this online exhibition is meant to reflect the design qualities of the Constructivism style that was utilized in the LEF and Novy LEF journals. Employed in the background is a textile design created by Varvara Stepanova, and the other design elements work to evoke the typography, poster style, and an aesthetic beauty of industrialism incorporated in the journals.
* This curated online exhibit was created to fulfill an assignment for a course in Russian visual and material culture at the University if Illinois at Chicago. The website is for educational purpose only.
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