Russian danger

Rodchenko and Popova: Defining Constructivism
Tate Modern, until 17 May

Art is always at its most dangerous — but perhaps also its most endearing — when it approaches the idealistic. In the wake of the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the group of artists who called themselves Constructivists came to believe that abstraction could transform everyday life. But, unlike many theorists, they weren’t content simply with the idea of art’s revolutionary potential, they longed to put it into practice, and this they proceeded to do. Abstraction is a great tool in applied art, and the Constructivists used it to good effect in posters, books, textiles and furniture. For once, art had a use. It became an instrument of social change, and utilitarian Constructivism for a time led the way in Revolutionary Russia. But only for a time. Pretty soon, its perceived lack of humanity told against it.

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This exhibition is dedicated to two of the leading protagonists of 1920s Russian Constructivism, a movement that grew out of the construction of abstract reliefs from found objects, inaugurated by Vladimir Tatlin. Tatlin is famous for his projected Tower, a vast monument to the Revolution which was both sculpture and building and would outshine even Eiffel’s effort. Alas, it was never realised. This did not check the Constructivists’ ardour, and they maintained that all artists must participate in the new industrial culture and ‘take the shortest road leading to the factory’. Although the Soviet government continued to nourish industry, its view of art was ironically somewhat less progressive. By the 1930s, Socialist Realism had entirely displaced Constructivism as the official mode.

But if the idealistic Constructivist dawn never progressed to the grim light of day in Russia, its influence certainly spread into Western Europe through such radical art movements as De Stijl and the Bauhaus.