Alexey Titarenko (b. 1962) Strengthen Peace through Labor, 1987
TITLE_NAME :
CONSTRUCTING THE FRAME: COMPOSITION AMONG SOVIET AVANT-GARDE AND NONCONFORMIST ARTISTS
01/11/2023 - 23/12/2023
Naylan Alexander gallery
Our online exhibition showcases experiments with framing and composition among the avant-garde Soviet artists of the 1920s and 1930s, including Boris Ignatovich (1899-1976), Arkady Shaikhet (1898-1959), Sergey Shimansky (1898-1972), and Petr Galadzhev (1900-1971). Photographers found that the construction of a robust, carefully framed composition was key to the development of a fresh style and the creation of a powerful metaphor. Constructivist compositions, close-ups, and photomontage were widely implemented. Shaikhet, in particular, employed a Constructivist visual language - as evident in the tight framing and sharp contrast of light and dark in “Construction of the Globe at Moscow Telegraph,” 1928, to celebrate new industrial and architectural forms. In his photocollage “Operator Frantsisson,” 1924, Galadzhev celebrates Boris Frantsisson (1899-1960), the Soviet avant-garde cinematographer who shot Sergei Eisenstein’s first film, Glumov’s Diary (1923), and collaborated with film director Dziga Vertov. Galadzhev inscribed the name “Frantsi-" and "sson” on the collage, perhaps intended as a pun on the Russian word “son,” meaning “to dream,” and on the resemblance of the filmmaker’s name to the name of the country France. Ignatovich, a major force in Soviet avant-garde photography, alongside Aleksandr Rodchenko, demonstrates a humanist aesthetic approach in “Youth,” 1937.
01/11/2023 - 23/12/2023
Naylan Alexander gallery
Our online exhibition showcases experiments with framing and composition among the avant-garde Soviet artists of the 1920s and 1930s, including Boris Ignatovich (1899-1976), Arkady Shaikhet (1898-1959), Sergey Shimansky (1898-1972), and Petr Galadzhev (1900-1971). Photographers found that the construction of a robust, carefully framed composition was key to the development of a fresh style and the creation of a powerful metaphor. Constructivist compositions, close-ups, and photomontage were widely implemented. Shaikhet, in particular, employed a Constructivist visual language - as evident in the tight framing and sharp contrast of light and dark in “Construction of the Globe at Moscow Telegraph,” 1928, to celebrate new industrial and architectural forms. In his photocollage “Operator Frantsisson,” 1924, Galadzhev celebrates Boris Frantsisson (1899-1960), the Soviet avant-garde cinematographer who shot Sergei Eisenstein’s first film, Glumov’s Diary (1923), and collaborated with film director Dziga Vertov. Galadzhev inscribed the name “Frantsi-" and "sson” on the collage, perhaps intended as a pun on the Russian word “son,” meaning “to dream,” and on the resemblance of the filmmaker’s name to the name of the country France. Ignatovich, a major force in Soviet avant-garde photography, alongside Aleksandr Rodchenko, demonstrates a humanist aesthetic approach in “Youth,” 1937.