Gouache on paper, framed. Featuring a figures in motion. Signed El Lissitzky (1890-1941, Russian) on the lower right corner. 27 x 16.5 cm. Framed: 43.5 x 33.5 cm; image size: 10 x 6.5 in).

A key figure in the vanguard of Bolshevik artists who shaped the aesthetic program of Soviet Russia, El Lissitzky was a pioneer of design, architecture, typography, and installation art. Lissitzky experimented with new technologies and media, developing a style that helped define 20th-century propaganda and modern graphic design. Building on the philosophy of Kazimir Malevich and Suprematism, Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and the Constructivists sought to dedicate their art to the advancement of Soviet society. Lissitzky’s political poster Hit the Whites with the Red Wedge! is a seminal example of Constructivism, which employs allegorical geometric shapes and text to capture the Bolshevik ideology of progress, formalizing the rejection of established artistic traditions. Believing art to have the power to transform society, Lissitzky said, “Art can no longer be merely a mirror, it must act as the organizer of the people's consciousness.” PROVENANCE: Southern Ontario estate

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