Wednesday, February 14, 2018

El Lissitzky (1923). Proun Space [wall and space decoration]. Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

This non-objective work establishes order through impressions of solidness against volume on the five planes that are effectively individual canvases. The subjects are severely reduced and planar formal shapes that impart their expressive qualities through differences in formatting and arrangement. The canvases either gather suspended weight into groups of form or project a more diffuse application of weight and energy. 
Differences from canvas-to-canvas are based on rectilinear shape, exacting value stops and spatial arrangement and angularity. Lissitzky unifies the canvases through these formatting choices and the progressive and even elemental complication they individually build. The repeated square dimensions of each canvas express their equality in importance. Both static and asymmetric balance is represented. 

The floor is the most basic plane; a single form of uniform gray. The ceiling adds the element of line and separates the values that create the gray of the floor into its constituents. To the viewer’s left, the dimensions of square are varied, creating rectangles, and the complication of positive and negative space is established. This canvas adds color purity, and on the right, the complication of angularity is included. The final, central canvas blends these formats and calibrations together, further complicating with a tiny spherical form. 

Value more than anything is responsible for the comprehensive sense of weight and definition of space. Pictorial depth is dependent on gestalt and nothing else. The argument could be made that this is an extremely rare example of an achromatic work that still contains color purity, but even the reddish-orange copper contains identifiable hue. It is impossible to possess hue without purity and purity without hue. 

Positioned just outside the cubical volume the five planes create, the eye follows horizontal edges across the space, pausing where shape populations become dense. Lissitzky uses line character, shape type and severity in color and value to bind the works to each other and within themselves. By varying size, spatial and depth arrangement, and favoring negative space, Lissitzky develops a sense of energy. This work represents masterful academic application of harmonizing dominances to build “outnumbered” and interest-generating conflicts. 

By using such severe shapes and basic formal arrangements, Lissitzky was attempting to promote concise, orderly thought in the individuals occupying the space. This is a defining characteristic of the Russian Constructivist movement, which some argue he initiated. Self-expression is selfish; visual expression must serve a purpose benefiting society. 

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