Bann S. The Tradition Of Constructivism

New York: Viking Press, 1974. — 334 p. — ISBN10: 0670723010; ISBN13: 978-0670723010With these words the sculptors Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner pronounced the official birth of constructivist art, the most revolutionary, challenging, and enigmatic of twentieth-century artistic movements. Since the time of their "Realistic Manifesto," constructivism has spread throughout the world, opposing personal, expressionistic art with abstraction and formal construction. In this book, Stephen Bann has collected the most important constructivist documents, including the writings of EI Lissitzky, Theo Van Doesburg, Hans Richter, Victor Vasarely, and Charles Biederman—many of which have never before been available in English—and supplemented them with a critical introduction, a chronology of constructivism, and an invaluable bibliography of close to four hundred items. This volume is illustrated with thirty-eight constructivist prints, paintings, drawings, and sculptures, some of them are rare and previously unpublished.List of Illustrations
Brief ChronologyPreface: Constructivism and the New Man
Introduction: Constructivism and Constructive Art in the Twentieth CenturyConstructivism in Russia: 1920-23Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner: The Realistic Manifesto (1920)
Vladimir Tatlin, T. Shapiro, 1. Meyerzon, and Pavel Vinogradov: The Work Ahead of Us (1920)
Nikolai Punin: Tallin’s Tower (1920)
Program of the Productivist Group (1920)
From Art in Production (1921)
A. Filippov: Production Art
A. Toporkov: Technological and Artistic Form
Alexei Gan: From Constructivism (1922)
Boris Arvatov: From Art and Class (1923)Toward International Constructivism: 1921—22Raoul Hausmann, Hans Arp, Ivan Puni, and Laszlo Moholy- Nagy: A Call for Elementarist Art (1921)
El Lissitzky and Ilya Ehrenburg: The Blockade of Russia Is Coming to an End (1922)Congress of International Progressive Artists (1922)
A Short Review of the Proceedings
Statement by the Editors of Veshch/Gegenstand/Objet
Statement by the Stijl Group
Statement by the Constructivist Groups of Rumania, Switzerland, Scandinavia, and Germany
Statement by the International Faction of ConstructivistsFrom the Catalogue of the First Exhibition of Russian ArtVan Diemen Gallery, Berlin (1922)
David Shterenberg: Foreword
Arthur Holitscher: Statement
From IntroductionConstructivism and the Little Magazines: 1923—24From Lef (1923)Whom Is Lef Alerting?
Osip Brik: Into Production!
Boris Arvatov: Materialized UtopiaFrom G (1923-24)Theo van Doesburg: Elemental Formation
Hans Richter: GFrom Disk (1923)PictureFrom Blok (1924)What Constructivism IsExtension of Constructivist Principles: 1923—28I. K. Bonset: Toward a Constructive Poetry (1923)
Vladimir Tatlin: On Zangezi (1923)
Theo van Doesuurg and Cornelis van Eesteren: Toward a Collective Construction (1923)
Ludwig Hilberseimer: Construction and Form (1924)
Literary Center of Constructivists: The Basic Tenets of Constructivism (1924)
Alexei Gan: Constructivism in the Cinema (1928)Retrospect, Theory, and Prognosis: 1928—32Laszlo Moholy-Nagy: Letter of Resignation from the Bauhaus (1928)
El Lissitzky: From Russia: The Reconstruction of Architecture in the Soviet Union (1930)From The Construction of Architectural and Mechanical Forms by Jakob Chernikov (1931)Erik Fedorovich Gollerbakh: From The Problems of Constructivism in Their Relation to Art
Jakob Chernikov: The Constitution, Study, and Formation of Constructivism
Vladimir Tatlin: Art Out into Technology (1932)The Constructive Idea in Europe: 1930—42Michel Seuphor: In Defense of an Architecture (1930)
Carlsund, Van Doesburg, Hélion, Tutundjian, and Wantz: The Basis of Concrete Painting (1930)
Joaquín Torres-García: The Constructive Art Group — Joint Collaborative Work (1933)
Jean Gorin: The Aim of Constructive Plastic Art (1936)From Circle — International Survey of Constructive Art (1937)Editorial
Naum Gabo: The Constructive Idea in Art
Letter from Naum Gabo to Herbert Read (1942)List of IllustrationsA. A. and V. A. Vesnin: Design for the Leningrad Pravda Building, 1924
K. Melnikov: Designs for the Soviet Pavilion, Paris International Exposition, 1925
Theatrical set from Chernikov’s Construction of Architectural and Mechanical Forms, 1931
Architectural project from Chernikov’s Construction of Architectural and Mechanical Forms, 1931
Group photograph taken at the Cercle et Carre exhibition, Paris, 1930
Title page of Cercle et Carre, no. 1, March 15, 1930
Cover of Art Concret, April 1930 From Art Concret, April 1930
Jean Gorin: Relations of Volumes in Space, 1930
Charles Biederman: Teaching Model, 1951-52
Naum Gabo: Bijenkorf Construction, Rotterdam, 1954-57
Victor Vasarely: Relief, 1963
“Experiment in Constructie” exhibition, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1962
Anthony Hill: Relief Construction, 1959
Kenneth Martin: Construction in Aluminum, 1967
Joost Baljeu: Construction — Black, White, Red, 1964