# Russian Constructivism

> Constructivism rejected art for art's sake in favour of the artist-engineer building useful things for the new Soviet society. In posters, books, film publicity and state advertising it fused bold grotesque type, heavy bars, photomontage and diagonal axes into an urgent, utilitarian language of agitation that shaped modern graphic design worldwide.

- Period: 1917–1934
- Where: Eastern Europe
- Origin: Moscow (Vkhutemas, LEF) and Petrograd, Soviet Russia
- Branch: Avant-garde
- Also known as: Constructivism, Productivism, Soviet avant-garde
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/constructivism/

## How it works

- Build the page like a structure: heavy bars, rules and blocks of type are load-bearing elements.
- Drive the composition along strong diagonals for urgency and forward motion.
- Set slogans in bold, condensed grotesque capitals, stacked, rotated or exploded in scale.
- Use photomontage and close-cropped photographs instead of drawn illustration.
- Limit colour to red and black on the paper ground, laid flat.
- Make every element serve the message and the mass reader; reject art for art's sake.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (defining)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (characteristic)
- [Radial & concentric](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/radial-and-concentric/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (defining)
- [Visual tension](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/visual-tension/) (characteristic)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (defining)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Condensed display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/) (characteristic)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (characteristic)
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Halftone & Ben-Day dots](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/halftone-and-ben-day-dots/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (defining)
- [Ornament-free](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornament-free/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Photomontage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/photomontage/) (defining)
- [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (characteristic)
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (characteristic)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (defining)
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (characteristic)
- [Technological & futurist](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/technological-and-futurist/) (characteristic)
- [Rational & objective](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rational-and-objective/) (occasional)

Avoids: Floral & vegetal, Abundant decoration, Central symmetry, Script, Whiplash line, Luxurious & glamorous, Nostalgic & retro

Palette: #efe6d2, #141414, #d1261c, #6b6b66, #c9b28a

Typefaces: Soviet heavy grotesques (rubleny shrift), Rodchenko's constructed block lettering, Condensed sans capitals stacked in poster slogans

Known for: Alexander Rodchenko (Lengiz 'Books' poster, 1924; Mosselprom advertising with Vladimir Mayakovsky); Varvara Stepanova; El Lissitzky (For the Voice, 1923); Gustav Klutsis & Valentina Kulagina (photomontage posters); Vladimir & Georgii Stenberg (film posters, e.g. Man with a Movie Camera, 1929); Aleksei Gan (Konstruktivizm, 1922); LEF and Novyi LEF journals (1923–28)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Suprematism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/suprematism.md) (1915–1925)
- Influenced by: [Dada](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dada.md) (1916–1924)
- Influenced by: [Italian Futurism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/futurism.md) (1909–1944)
- Led to: [Bauhaus](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bauhaus.md) (1919–1933)
- Led to: [Czech Poetist Book Design (Devětsil)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/czech-poetism.md) (1922–1938)
- Led to: [Leningrad Avant-Garde Picture Book](https://stylogeny.com/styles/soviet-picture-book.md) (1922–1936)
- Led to: [Isotype Pictorial Statistics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/isotype.md) (1925–1971)
- Led to: [Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/socialist-realism.md) (1932–1989)
- Led to: [Zagreb Modernist Graphics (EXAT 51 to Teatar &TD)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/zagreb-modernist-graphics.md) (1951–1975)
- Alike in its design choices: [Die Neue Typographie](https://stylogeny.com/styles/new-typography.md) (1923–1940), 75% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Estridentismo (Stridentist) Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/estridentismo-graphics.md) (1921–1927), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Di Tella Graphic Design (Instituto Torcuato Di Tella)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/di-tella-graphics.md) (1960–1970), 61% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [International Typographic Style](https://stylogeny.com/styles/swiss-international.md) (1950–1975), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Roman-like Thai Typography (modern loopless Thai)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/thai-loopless-type.md) (1973–present), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Blue Note Jazz Sleeve Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/blue-note-sleeve.md) (1956–1967), 56% alike

## Real works

- [For the Voice (Dlia golosa), poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky: spread 'Left March'](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seiten_aus_dem_Gedichtband_Dlja_golosa_von_Wladimir_Majakowski_gestaltet_von_El_Lissitzky.jpg): El Lissitzky (design); Vladimir Mayakovsky (text), 1923, Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum, Leipzig (photograph via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Industrialization of the USSR (Industrializatsiia SSSR), plate 26 of the poster series 'History of the VKP(b)'](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9B%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9._%D0%98%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%83%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A0.jpg): El Lissitzky, 1927, National Library of Russia, via Wikimedia Commons
- [Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (Klinom krasnym bei belykh)](https://search.rsl.ru/ru/record/01004879579): El Lissitzky, 1920, Russian State Library, Moscow (image via Wikimedia Commons)
- [USSR – Shock Brigade of the World Proletariat (SSSR – udarnaia brigada proletariata vsego mira)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USSR_%E2%80%93_shock_brigade_of_the_world_proletariat_-_Gustavs_Klucis.jpg): Gustav Klutsis, 1931, Wikimedia Commons (scan credited to Google Arts & Culture; holding institution not stated)
- [The Development of Transport Is One of the Most Important Tasks in Fulfilling the Five-Year Plan (Razvitie transporta – odna iz vazhneishikh zadach po vypolneniiu piatiletnego plana)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Klucis,_%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B0_-_%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B8%D0%B7_%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%88%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%87.jpg): Gustav Klutsis, 1929, Wikimedia Commons (scan from A. Snopkov, P. Snopkov and A. Shkliaruk, 600 plakatov SSSR; holding institution not stated)
- [Leaflet advertising Meyerhold's production of Mayakovsky's 'The Bedbug' (Klop)](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O178341/): Alexander Rodchenko, 1929, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.1282-1989)

## Sources

- Christina Lodder, Russian Constructivism (Yale University Press, 1983)
- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Russian Constructivism”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/constructivism/