Paste youArts have played a large role in the expression of inner thoughts and beauty in life. From dance and music to art the concept of life is shown through the various ways in which we interpret it. The arts play a valued role in creating cultures and developing and documenting civilizations. Russia has been developing its culture for as long as anybody could think. Nowadays, Russian painters and musicians are quickly becoming well known among each and every one around the world. Modern day art has passed beyond the realms of serving the state and religion and to illustrate history or to paint a plain object. Art at the beginning of the 20th century became about something more, feeling. Artwork started to become deeper and filled with a purpose an idea which would hide itself behind reality. The new revolution of art pushed the boundaries of reality into something that expressed the inner of the artist.
The avant-garde are people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society. It may be characterized by nontraditional, aesthetic innovation and initial unacceptability. The art of the Russian avant-garde are among the most diverse and radical chapters of modernism, the Russian avant-garde went hand in hand with a phenomenon of comprehensive artistic renewal. In the wake of the Russian Revolution, artist Marc Chagall created an avant-garde art school that drew in abstract art pioneers like Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky. At no other point in the history of art did artistic schools and artists’ associations emerge at such a breathtaking pace than between 1910 and 1920. Every group was its own program, every program its own call to battle against the past as well as against competing iterations of the present. One of the most influential and wide range movements of modernism art work in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union is the Russian avant-garde, during the period of 1890s to 1930s
This avant-garde movement was among the boldest and most advanced in Europe. It signified for many artists an end to the past academic conventions as they began to experiment with the notions of space, following the basic elements of color, shape and line. The equality for all that they sought would eventually take from them the freedom of their own artistic individuality. The avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm. The avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, as distinct from postmodernism. Many artists have aligned themselves with the avant-garde movement and still continue to do so.
The Jewish Museum is dedicated to the enjoyment, understanding, and preservation of the artistic and cultural heritage of the Jewish people. Using art and artifacts that embody the diversity of the Jewish experience from ancient to present times, throughout the world, the Museum strives to be a source of inspiration and shared human values for people of all religious and cultural backgrounds while serving as a special touchstone of identity for Jewish people. Both exhibitions showed great details the historic events of avant-garde movement.
All artists used brightly colored geometric abstraction in their paintings; however their artworks are different from one another. Pioneering graphic designer, artist and archivist, Elaine Lustig Cohen is recognized for her body of design work integrating European avant-garde and modernist influences into a distinctly American, mid-century manner of typographic communication. Elaine Lustig Cohen was not an ideological modernist but she favored clarity and simplicity, and used functional typography with asymmetry as a guiding principle. She preferred pure geometry. The contribution of Chagall, Malevich, Lissitzky: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk is that, by sidestepping radical abstraction and highlighting figurative work of Chagall, it foregrounds the revolution’s potential to bring joy, sex and off-kilter playfulness into people’s daily lives apart from political propaganda, utopianism and promises of a better life in the future. Their visible emotional expression is amazing in the meaning of the artwork. These artists seek individuality of their own souls and express them through their own abstract meaning.
The 3rd floor of the Jewish museum displays catalogues portraits of Elaine Lustig Cohen. While observing Cohen exhibition throughout the museum, I noticed that her artworks has similar patterns but at the same time it brings about vibrant, eccentric and vivid colors to the museum. Her designs are as minimal and abstract as the work they represent. Cohen used the catalog covers as mini canvases to reflect the spirit of the exhibition or pay homage to the artist’s style. Knowingly or not, Elaine created a unique and vibrant graphic personality for the museum. Clever graphic designers love to use typography to explore the interaction between the look of type and what type actually says. In communicating a message, a balance has to be achieved between the visual and the verbal aspects of a design. Sometimes, however, designers explore the visual aspect of type to a much greater extent than the verbal. In this case, Cohen’s visual and artistic language does all the talking.
One of the works that I like of Cohen’s is “Primary Structures” portrait. You can see that she continued to use an abstract representational approach practiced in her book cover designs. On the catalog cover, you see a stripped-down white “P” that is integrated with a red “S” on a bright yellow background. At first glance it looks as if you are seeing geometrical shapes painted in different areas of the painting but if you look more vividly into the painting it displays, interpretations of the fluorescent light installations and the shiny, smooth sculptural forms included in the exhibit
Another painting that caught my attention is the “Hanukkah” invitation painting. What I liked most about this painting is its vivid color and shapes of the invitation. The painting features lettering in purple and black ink on yellow background. "Hanukkah" is printed three times in purple text spanning the width of the invitation; the middle "Hanukkah" is reversed and flipped upside down. The letters connects with the next, with black text printed vertically in the yellow negative space formed by the letters "H" and "U" and horizontally at bottom. The portrait is simple but represents fun and heartfelt pattern vibes. I believe that is what Cohen wanted to achieve when she designs her art, she love the simplicity of artworks and allow the audience to define their own meaning behind it.
Cohen developed a hard-edged style as a painter. Symbolizing and creating a bold formal language of geometric shapes and vibrant solid colors, Cohen's paintings relate to her design work as well as the contemporaneous practices of other artists who strove to dissolve the barriers between painting and object hood. At the same time, Cohen's ephemera and exhibition catalogues offer a window into a moment in the Jewish Museum's history that was as lively and colorful as her designs.
Chagall, Malevich, Lissitzky: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk on the 2nd floor of the museum displays a different vibe of culture representations. What I liked most about this exhibit is the artist’s paintings are more vivid and portray more expressions which allow the audiences imagination to move more freely towards how they can perceive the paintings. Each artists painting tells a story of their own but it also eludes the audience to create their own theory behind the painting. Focusing primarily on Lissitzky’s works, his works seem to also use geometric shapes and contemporary art designs in his painting.
Lissitzky painting “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge” was designed after the Bolsheviks had waged their revolution of 1917. The poster shows a huge red triangle that pierces into a white circle, which creates the center of attention. The red wedge symbolizes the Bolsheviks, who are penetrating and defeating their opponents, the White movement, during the Russian Civil War. The white background depicts a bright future. El Lissitzky used color combination of red, white and black, which reinforces the message indicated by the work’s title. Also, the shapes have their symbolic significance. After researching on this poster, the same time Lissitzky published his work, Russia was going through a civil war at the time. The war occurred between the "Reds" (communists, socialists and revolutionaries) and the "Whites" (monarchists, conservatives, liberals and other socialists who opposed the Bolshevik Revolution). As simple as Lissitzky poster was, it was viewed and communicated a powerful message.
Another painting by Lissitzky is “The Fire Came and Burnt the Stick”. This painting also had some geometrical shapes included in the portraits, unlike “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge” piece; this image has more vivid details and colors to it. The painting has words in Yiddish going across the page, also has colors of red, gold, brown and green. In the lower left of the painting the geometric shapes represents the synagogue building. In the painting it appears to look as a red bird is engulfing the stick in swirling flames. This painting is really interesting because “Had Gadya” was a passage song for the persecution of the Jews, while demonstrating God's ultimate triumph over evil and death. Lissitzky transformed "Had Gadya" into his painting and it became a metaphor for the triumph of the Bolshevik Revolution.
Most of the works of Lissitzky seemed to be constructed out of different objects and colors. Two or three dimensional was a huge understanding of aesthetics with great influences from the Bauhaus generation. I saw great playfulness, movement and joy in the works. Although having a little knowledge in the field of painting I could see that the artist had explored what was possible at that time. These artists show the although there was lack of knowledge or technology is not always a limitation but it was a huge gift which allow them to express themselves creativity and focuses on the main idea behind the work. The way he constructs with distinctive geometric forms in layers and makes it look quite simple.
Although this is not one of Lissitzky painting, I did find this infamous piece entertaining as well. The picture depicts they were coming from their wedding ceremony; his wife is wearing her wedding gown and he is wearing festive attire. Chagall painted himself sitting on Bella shoulders as she is carrying him which symbolized her as his support system, she allows him to see further and advance his art further. In this monumental composition, it shows that Bella is Marc anchor in the picture, which seems as if she is his anchor in Chagall life. When looking closely into the portrait you can see Chagall covering one of his wife eyes. Some people believe that Chagall is partially blinding his wife because she can’t see with both eyes but I believe it has a deeper connection that what is portrayed. The common expression “the eyes are the window to the soul”, is what I believe Chagall is conveying in his painting. It seems as if Chagall is touching his wife soul by placing his hand over her eyes. The wine glass that Chagall is holding in his hands is not only the celebration of his wedding but also the celebration for the Jews the overcome of the political aspect for the Jews, passageway for Jews to gain their citizenship.
Both Cohen and Lissitzky were important and well recognized for their body of work integrating European avant-garde. The visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. Just as spoken language is based on fundamental letters, sounds and grammar, visual art is based on elements and principles that, when used together, create works that communicate ideas and meaning to the viewer.
Cohen’s exhibit and Lissitzky exhibits are similar to each other in the theme of abstract and using geometric shapes within their paintings. Both artists used vibrant colors, use topography to form illusions and illustrations in their works. They are visionaries who shaped modern graphic design, their visual language is what really stood out; Cohen contributed to the evolving visual language of post-war modernism, guarding principles of clarity and simplicity while embracing the experimental spirit she loved about the avant-garde. Lissitzky drew influence from the supremacists early in his career; his work often combined elements on a strong diagonal axis, giving his designs a new, dynamic quality. He aimed to establish a visual language using shape and color instead of letterforms. The related fields of typography and graphic design played a vital role in the advent of modernism in early twentieth-century Europe.
Elaine Lustig Cohen and El Lissitzky works are also different from one another. Cohen’s catalogues is best known for her expressive cover typography. Many of the objects in our collection demonstrate how she used type as illustration, setting it large, slicing it up, and repeating it to produce texture. Cohen’s work is more focused on catalogues covers and graphic designs; one of her primary goals was to make sure the image on the cover reflected the voice of the work inside. Whereas Lissitzky who utilized his art for social change. In fact, he made the very first abstract work with a political message. Although often highly abstract and theoretical, Lissitzky's work was able speak to the prevailing political discourse of his native Russia, and then the nascent Soviet Union. Lissitzky's influence in the world of graphic design cannot be overstated. He utilized a pared-down palette of primary colors, black and white, text, and basic forms – shapes both real as well as invented geometric constructions – to tell stories, including traditional Jewish tales, and to make very powerful political statements.
The exhibit I prefer would be Chagall, Malevich, Lissitzky: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk. The reason I chose this exhibit because I like the cultural aspect of how the exhibit is portrayed. I found this exhibit to be fascinating and visually captivating, the art portrait consists of a unique collaboration that forged a new path for artistic expression which extended far beyond the boundaries of Vitebsk.
The Russian Revolution energized the artists to expand their social influence to produce statements that could inspire human aspirations. The colors, scheme, patterns and geometric shapes create a story that is tied into the historic past which depicts a story of its own. The artists used their artistic strategies and incorporate it with their own personal life story and pour it onto their painting which makes it personal and heartfelt. The paintings each have their own symbolism and visual expression. I really enjoyed visiting the Jewish museum.
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