ART UNIONS AND CREATIVE UNIONS OF RUSSIA ON THE TURN OF THE XIX-XX CENTURIES (part 3)
“Bauhaus” (German: Bauhaus – building house) – art educational institution and creative association in Germany. It was founded in 1919 by the architect V. Groppius in Weimar, in 1925 it was transferred to Dessau, in 1933 it was abolished by the fascist authorities. The leaders of the Bauhaus (H. Mayer, J. Albers and others), relying on the aesthetics of functionalism, set out to develop new principles of shaping in plastic arts; they strove for a comprehensive artistic solution to the domestic environment, developed the ability of students to creatively comprehend new materials and designs, and taught them how to create solid and practical products. A significant place was given to design teaching. The main link of the educational process at the Bauhaus was the students’ labor practice in production, art and design workshops, where, along with studies and studies, they created architectural projects, decorative plastic works, and samples of mass household products. Teaching and practical work was carried out by major architects, designers, and some avant-garde artists (V.V. Kandinsky, P. Klee, O. Schlemmer, etc.). The activities of the Bauhaus played an important role in establishing the principles of rationalism in world architecture of the 20th century. and the formation of modern art design.
“Tower” – an art studio with that name existed in Moscow in the 1910s. It was a free workshop typical of those years, in which artists could draw nature; topics related to contemporary art were discussed here. The studio was visited by N. S. Goncharova, M. F. Larionov, L. S. Popova, L. A. Prudkovskaya, A. I. Troyanovskaya, N. A. Udaltsova and others. The composition of visitors often changed.
“Jack of Diamonds” – an association of Moscow artists, leading the way from the exhibition of the same name, organized in 1910. Its members were V. D. and D. D. Burliuki, N. S. Goncharova, P. P. Konchalovsky, A. V. Kuprin, N. Kulbin, M. F. Larionov, A. V. Lentulov, K. S. Malevich, I. I. Mashkov, R. R. Falk, V. V. Rozhdestvensky and others. The name belongs to M. F. Larionov, who, apparently, had in mind a negative interpretation of the image in the spirit of the old French interpretation of the playing card: “Jack of Diamonds – a crook, a rogue.” Explaining his choice, the artist said: “There are too many pretentious names … as a protest we decided, the worse, the better … what could be more ridiculous” Jack of Diamonds “?”. Artists of the association are characterized by picturesque and plastic searches in the spirit of post-impressionism. The Bubnovolets developed a peculiar pictorial-plastic system (the so-called Russian Cezannism), where the principles of cubism and Fauvism were implemented taking into account the influence of Russian folk art – lubok, wood and ceramics, as well as trays and signboards. Of all the genres of painting, they gave preference to still life, landscape and portrait, solving the problem of constructing a three-dimensional shape on a plane using color, transmitting the “materiality” of nature, its textural tangibility. At the Jack of Diamonds exhibitions, in addition to paintings by members of the association, the works of V.V. Kandinsky and A.G. Yavlensky, living in Munich, as well as the French J. Braque, C. Van Dongen, F. Valoton, M. Vlaminka, A. Gleza were exhibited , R. Delaunay, A. Derain, A. Marche, A. Matisse, P. Picasso, A. Russo, P. Signac, other famous artists; open debates were held about the fate of contemporary art, reports were read, etc. However, the association itself, corroded by internal contradictions, turned out to be short-lived. In 1911, the most radical artists (Burlyuki, Goncharova, Larionov, etc.) came out of it, oriented in their works to examples of folk and primitive art, cubo-futurism, and abstract art. They organized an independent exhibition with the shocking title Donkey Tail. In the years 1916-17. another group of artists who profess moderate views and adhere to a more traditional easel painting (Konchalovsky, Mashkov, Kuprin, Lentulov, Rozhdestvensky, Falk) moved to the association “World of Art”. After that, the Jack of Diamonds actually ceased to exist.
