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Constructivism in Central Europe
Painting, Typography, Photomontage
Author:
The book is a comparative study of the constructivist avant-garde artists in Central Europe, the Hungarian MA group in exile in Vienna, the Blok group in Warsaw, and the Czech DevÄtsil association of artists in Prague. The author examines the similarities and significant differences among them. Contrary to often-repeated theses, the study reveals that the artists unremittingly sought new formulations for an initial set of formal and theoretical issues. It also demonstrates that they persistently believed that their works of art prefigured a future socialist society. The long-awaited socialist states that came into being after World War II betrayed the artists.
Esther Levinger, Ph.D. (1980), Sorbonne Paris I, is Professor Emerita of Art History at the University of Haifa, Israel. She published a book on war memorials in Israel and articles on individual artists in Russia, Central, and Eastern Europe.
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Theory and Practice of Constructivism in Central Europe
â1âThe Migration and Reception of Russian Constructivism
â2âVienna
â3âWarsaw
â4âPrague
2 Constructivist Visions of Totality and Happiness
â1âThe Quest for Totality
â2âThe Mechanical/Relational Paradigm
â3âThe Organic/Decentered Paradigm
â4âPoetism and Constructivism: A Dialectical Unity
3 Unism: Subject and Object / Space and Time
â1âTypography
â2âSculpture and Architecture
â3âTheory of Vision
4 Poetism: A Marriage of Opposites
â1âPopular or Proletarian
â2âPicture Poems â Poetry for the Five Senses
â3âCinema: The Land of Utopia
â4âPoetism: Acceptance and Rejection
Conclusion: Images of a Future International
Appendix 1: Lajos Kassák, âOn the New Artâ
Appendix 2: Lajos Kassák, âOn Constructivismâ
Appendix 3: WÅadysÅaw StrzemiÅski, âAspects of Realityâ
Appendix 4: Karl Teige, âPoem, World, Manâ
Bibliography
Index
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Theory and Practice of Constructivism in Central Europe
â1âThe Migration and Reception of Russian Constructivism
â2âVienna
â3âWarsaw
â4âPrague
2 Constructivist Visions of Totality and Happiness
â1âThe Quest for Totality
â2âThe Mechanical/Relational Paradigm
â3âThe Organic/Decentered Paradigm
â4âPoetism and Constructivism: A Dialectical Unity
3 Unism: Subject and Object / Space and Time
â1âTypography
â2âSculpture and Architecture
â3âTheory of Vision
4 Poetism: A Marriage of Opposites
â1âPopular or Proletarian
â2âPicture Poems â Poetry for the Five Senses
â3âCinema: The Land of Utopia
â4âPoetism: Acceptance and Rejection
Conclusion: Images of a Future International
Appendix 1: Lajos Kassák, âOn the New Artâ
Appendix 2: Lajos Kassák, âOn Constructivismâ
Appendix 3: WÅadysÅaw StrzemiÅski, âAspects of Realityâ
Appendix 4: Karl Teige, âPoem, World, Manâ
Bibliography
Index
The book's potential readership comprises undergraduate and graduate students, scholars of avant-garde art between the two world wars, as well as interested non-specialists.