Top 30 constructivist artists: art, architecture and revolution

Before the grid

Why constructivism is changing the form of art

Constructivism rejects the work as a simple decorative object. It seeks an active form: an image that organizes, informs, mobilizes, teaches or transforms space. This is why the movement very quickly goes beyond painting to touch posters, photography, books, clothing, theater, sculpture and architecture.

This Top 30 follows this constructive energy from revolutionary Russia to European and Latin American extensions: De Stijl, Bauhaus, Polish abstraction, Czech typography, universal constructivism and concrete art.

Method

How the 30 artists were selected

The selection favors historical importance in Russian and Soviet constructivism, then the closest extensions: constructive sculpture, modern architecture, photomontage, typography, Bauhaus, De Stijl, Polish abstraction, concrete art and universal constructivism.

The link rule remains the same: artists who died in 1956 or before refer to an internal collection; artists who died after 1956 refer to Wikipedia.

Choose an entry

Where to start?

For the Russian core, start with Tatlin, Rodchenko, Popova, Lissitzky, Klutsis and Stepanova: they show the transition from painting to construction, from composition to poster, from workshop to street.

To understand international enlargement, follow Moholy-Nagy, Van Doesburg, Teige, Kobro, Strzemiÿski, Torres Garcia and Max Bill: constructivism then becomes a language of design, architecture, pedagogy and geometric abstraction.

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