El Lissitzky
Today we feature another image from the exhibition Red star Over Russia: A Revolution in Visual Culture 1905 – 55 which was recently showed at the Tate Modern in London (November 2017 – February 2018).
USSR in Construction, a propaganda magazine published monthly in Moscow from 1930 to 1941 was designed to inform Soviet citizens of the huge scale of construction being undertaken in Russia at the time, and to represent the USSR as a leading industrial power. Soviet workers were portrayed as heroic, smiling and invigorated by the progress being brought about by the working classes. Various prominent graphic designers, photographers and artists were responsible for designing the covers. This 1940 cover, designed by El Lissitsky and his wife Sophie Lissitzky-Küppers using photography by Max Alpert, shows one of 160,000 Uzbek and Tajik collective farm workers wielding one of the tools of his trade as he strives to build the canal that would make possible the irrigation of the cotton fields of the Ferghana Valley. This endeavour was part of Stalin’s industrialization and collectivization plan for agriculture under communism in Russia. The cover conveys a positive message about the rewards of honest, hard work whilst at the same time promoting the virtues of the Stalinist state. As a result of the increased water supply the cotton harvest doubled.
See you tomorrow!
Today in our DailyArt Magazine read an article: "Jobs in Art Which Don't Exist Anymore (Or Seem To)