Was born into a Latvian family. The father of the future artist was from the working class. He grew up on a small farm, from childhood showed his talent.
January 4, 1895, a farm of Rujienas of Valmiera county of Koni parish, Latvia (then - the Russian Empire) - February 26, 1938 (or March 16, 1944), the place of death is unknown
Gustavs Klucis
description
Gustavs Klucis was a painter, graphic artist, illustrator and photographer. He entered the history of art as a pioneer of photomontage. In the world of art, he is considered one of the four artists who invented the subgenre of political photomontage in 1918. Three other names are known more widely – German Dadaists Hannah Hoch and Raoul Hausmann, Russian avant-garde artist El Lissitzky.
The artist was famous for his unique spatial designs and the design of practical structures – stalls, stands and installations called radio speakers. Gustavs Klucis taught colour theory at the School of Constructivism – the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops.
In graphics, in addition to posters, the artist worked as a designer of books, albums, magazines and newspapers. He took an active part in exhibitions, including several international ones, organized mass festivals, wrote theoretical articles for the LEF magazine and several other publications. He became one of the organizers of the creative association “October”.
Klucis aimed to justify the need to subordinate art to the tasks of “building communism”. In a mature period of his creative career, the artist was a staunch supporter of “production art”, denied easelism, and recognized graphic art only in the form of photo and film images.
Despite his most faithful and sincere service to the “ideals of the proletarian revolution”, Gustavs Gustavovich Klucis was arrested in January 1938 and denounced as a participant in the “fascist conspiracy of the Latvian nationalists”. His further fate is not exactly known: according to some sources, the artist was shot on February 26 in the same year; according to others, he died in March 1944 in a Central Asian concentration camp. In 1956, the artist was posthumously rehabilitated “for the lack of corpus delicti”. The artist’s creations were preserved by his wife, Valentina Kulagina.
Works of Gustavs Klucis are in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of V.V. Mayakovski; a separate room called “The Cabinet of Gustavs Klucis” is opened in the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga.
Key ideas:
– Despite the fact that such outstanding painters as Wilhelm Purvitis and Konstantin Korovin were teachers of Gustavs Klucis, he preferred the theories, creativity and activities of his idol and mentor Kazimir Malevich. In his mature period, Gustavs was a staunch supporter of “production art”, which denied easel painting and any visualization, with the exception of photographic images.
– According to the definition of the artist himself, the modern world needed “paintings-things”, and he made them using various methods of processing different materials. Applied the technique of reliefs and counter-reliefs, created a number of linear, spatial and colour non-graphic compositions.
– By the beginning of the 1920s, Klucis had become an experienced constructive practitioner, having developed the technique of photomontage. This method of cutting and pasting photographs was readily adopted by other Russian avant-garde artists, who used it for various artistic purposes. Klucis later became a theorist in this field.
– Gustavs Klucis, as one of the creators of a new kind of art, included architectural elements in his first photomontages (“Dynamic City” and others). The artist filled the posters with offensively didactic aggressiveness, which was characteristic of the Soviet culture of that time.
– Under the influence of the ideas of the revolution, Gustav Klutsis expressed the cult of leaders in his posters and constructions, showed the contrast of the image of the hero and the faceless mass. For example, while actively working as a designer of various publications, he created illustrations for the album “In Memory of the Fallen Leaders” (1927).
1895
1913
1915
1918
1920
1922
1924
1925
1928
1930
1931
1932 - 1933
1936
1937
1938
The birth of the artist
Received an art education at the Riga City Art School
After studying for two years at the Valmiera Teachers’ Seminary, he received an art education at the Riga City Art School, where one of his mentors was Vilhelm Purvitis, an outstanding Impressionist and Modernist.
Drafted into the imperial army
Drafted into the imperial army, served in the Okhten infantry unit in Petrograd; attended the drawing school of the All-Russian Society for the Promotion of Arts in Petrograd; after the revolution began, he volunteered for the machine gunners’ team of the Ninth Regiment of the Red Latvian Riflemen.
Continued his artistic education at the State Free Art Studios
He lived mainly in Moscow, continued his artistic education at the State Free Art Studios of K. Korovin, K. Malevich and A. Pevzner. His first surviving works belong to this time: sketches on themes from the life of Latvian shooters, drawings for the design of the Kremlin, the sketch “Red Square on May 1”, “Red Man” and the panel “Storm. A blow to the counter-revolution …”- the first graphic work, which included photographic images. Participated in the First art exhibition of works by Red Latvian shooters in the Kremlin.
Took part in the “Exhibition of the Pevzner School”
Took part in the “Exhibition of the Pevzner School”, where, in particular, sculptures of N. Gabo were exhibited; a year later, he exhibited his creations together with the artists of the “Validators of the New Art”. He married artist Valentina Kulagina. The couple lived in the hostel of VKHUTEMAS, where Gustav taught, next to the artists S. Senkin, A. Rodchenko, V. Stepanova and futurist poet A. Kruchenykh.
He created a series of 20 design projects in lithography and linocut techniques
A number of his graphic constructions and design projects were selected for display at the international exhibition in Berlin. He created a series of 20 design projects in lithography and linocut techniques; it was published in a small edition. He developed designs for holiday installations for the Fourth Congress of the Comintern (“Radio Speaker. Horn of the Revolution”, “Screen-Tribune”, “Rotating Information Installation”, etc.). The designs were published in the magazines Lef, Vremya, etc.
Was invited to the post of associate professor of VKHUMATES in the colour discipline
Was invited to the post of associate professor of VKHUMATES in the colour discipline. He conducted practical classes at several faculties for six years until the institution was disbanded in 1930. Created designs for Constructivist-style clothing.
Showed his works at an international exhibition in Paris
Showed his works at an international exhibition in Paris. He worked in the editorial board and as an artist of the Carriage Works Club. By 1927, he prepared (together with S. Senkin) political photomontage illustrations for the album “In Memory of the Fallen Leaders” and developed stained-glass windows for the pavilion of the All-Union Printing Exhibition.
He took part in the design of the Soviet department at the International Press Exhibition in Cologne
He took part in the design of the Soviet department at the International Press Exhibition in Cologne (together with El Lissitzky), created exhibition equipment for the Exhibition of Soviet Art in Brussels. He actively participated in the organization of the October Society, published a series of multi-colour photomontage cards for the Spartakiad.
Organized a photo editing department at the exhibition of the October association
Organized a photo editing department at the exhibition of the October association. In the same year, he was enrolled as an assistant professor at the Printing Institute. Since then, he participated annually (until 1935) in large-scale decorations of squares and streets of Moscow for mass holidays and celebrations – he developed propaganda installations, kiosks and stands. A year later, he made a keynote address “Photomontage as a new type of propaganda art”.
He was seconded for photographing, sketching, and studies on topics reflecting socialist construction
He was seconded with Sergei Senkin to the cities of Tiflis, Batumi, Sukhumi, Gorlovka (Donbass), etc. for photographing, sketching, and studies on topics reflecting socialist construction. He became a member of the Union of Moscow artists.
Completed a photomontage panel for the building of the Moscow Hotel
Created works on the theme “DneproGES is the greatest achievement of the socialist industry”, completed a photomontage panel for the building of the Moscow Hotel (1933), etc. He held a number of senior positions in the Association of Revolutionary Poster Workers, the Bureau of the Poster Sector and the Audit Commission of MOSSHA, and also in the section of spatial arts at the Institute of Arts. For the first time, he used two-colour photomontage to decorate the front page of the festive issues of the newspaper Pravda.
Went on a business trip from the Prometheus society
Went on a business trip from the Prometheus society to the Latvian community in Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Rostov-on-Don and a Latvian collective farm in the Azov-Black Sea region; created a series of drawings and paintings with the themes “The best people are Latvians-Stakhanovites”, “Life of the Latvian people”.
Prepared work for the International Exhibition in New York
He was sent as a graphic designer at the World Exhibition “Art and Technology in Contemporary Life” that was held in Paris. Prepared work for the International Exhibition in New York.
Was arrested and shot
Was arrested and convicted on trumped-up charges of participating in the “fascist conspiracy of the Latvian nationalists”; was shot in February. According to another version, he died in a Central Asian concentration camp on March 16, 1944. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1956.
Gustavs Klucis
On Artist
flow
Impressionism
Suprematism
Constructivism
friends
Alexander Rodchenko
El Lissitzky
artists
Vilhelm Purvitis
Konstantin Korovin
Kazimir Malevich
Antoine Pevsner
By Artist
flow
Constructivism
friends
Alexander Rodchenko
El Lissitzky
artists
Sergey Senkin
Varvara Stepanova
Valentina Kulagina
Olgert Jaunarais
description
The album of memoirs “In Memory of the Fallen Leaders” was edited by prominent publicist Felix Cohn. On 88 pages of the publication issued to the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution by the Young Worker Publishing House, there are epitaph essays about 23 active participants in the revolution of 1917.
1927