Vladimir Tatlin Tower - Tony Shafrazi Gallery, NYC

Vladimir Tatlin: Monument to the Third International  

Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York 

Through July 30, 2011 

Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York

Poster for the exhibition 

Courtesy Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York 

Vladimir Tatlin’s Monument for the Third International, "the definitive paradigm of Constructivism" is exhibited for the first time in the United States at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, NYC. 

VLADIMIR TATLIN, the father of the Russian Constructivist movement, began work on the Monument in 1915 and completed his famous scale model of the colossal structure in 1920. Commonly known as "Tatlin’s Tower," the Monument, envisioned to function as the headquarters of the Communist International, was to stand in the birthplace of the Russian Revolution—the city of Petrograd. It was to be made from industrial materials—iron, glass, and steel—and stand 1300 feet, more than 300 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower or the approximate height of The Empire State Building. The ambitious engineering and architectural demands of the project, combined with political turmoil and steel shortages made it unrealistic for the massive structure to be realized.

VLADIMIR TATLIN'S TOWER AND MODEL OF MONUMENT FOR THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS - Tatlin’s Tower was exhibited in Petrograd in November 1920 and then in Moscow later that December on the occasion of the Soviet Congress. The model was erected a third time, in Tatlin’s absence, at the World Exhibition of Industrial and Decorative Art in Paris, 1925. The only other time that the model was installed during the artist’s lifetime was at the 1930 exhibition in Leningrad. By 1932, all traces of these models had disappeared.

The model of Monument for the Third International in Tony Shafrazi Gallery's exhibition is the first model to have been built after Tatlin’s death. In 1967, Pontus Hulten, Director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm, having obtained permission from Aleksandra Korsakova, Tatlin’s widow, and consulting with T. M. Shapiro, Tatlin’s original collaborator, as well as two structural engineers, oversaw the fabrication of this model which made its debut in the exhibition Vladimir Tatlin at the Moderna Museet in 1968. Later the exhibition traveled to Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven and Technische Hochschule Delft, Holland in 1969, and many other important museums.

In 1979, this model was lent to the exhibition Moscow-Paris at the Centre Georges Pompidou. After the exhibition, the Pompidou had an exact replica made from this model for their collection, as our original model had been acquired by a private collector from Switzerland. In 1980, the Moderna Museet also made a replica from this model for their collection. Of these three versions of Monument for the Third International, the present sculpture is the only one created under the supervision of T.M. Shapiro, Tatlin’s original collaborator, and is the most accurate rendition of his original 1920 design.

Vladimir Tatlin’s Monument for the Third International is widely regarded as the defining symbol of Constructivist sculpture and architecture and remains one of the most celebrated icons of revolutionary art of the 20th century. 

TONY SHAFRAZI GALLERY, NYC 

www.tonyshafrazigallery.com

Kazimir Malevich and Suprematism in the Ludwig Collection, Cologne

Kazimir Malevich and Suprematism in the Ludwig Collection - Project series on the Russian Avant-Garde Part 2 
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
5 February - 22 August 2010 - 20 February 2011

After the exhibition “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste. Cubo-Futurism and the Rise of Modernism in Russia” Museum Ludwig continued its project series on the Russian avant-garde with a cabinet exhibition of its Malevich collection. This is one of the largest collections worldwide of KASIMIR MALEVICH’s work and was exhibited for the first time in nearly twenty years. The approximately fifty graphic works, four paintings and one sculpture from all periods of his work afforded viewers an insight into the artist's development from figurative art to abstraction and back again to figuration. As part of the exhibition preparations, museum restorers subjected the four paintings to an art-technological examination. Ten suprematist works by artists from Kasimir Malevitch’s circle, Ekaterina Bugrova, Ivan Kliun, Nina Kogan, Liubov Popova, Kliment Redko, Nikolai Suetin and Ilya Chashnik, complements the exhibition and demonstrate Kasimir Malevich’s influence on his contemporaries.

The concept of Suprematism denotes both abstract composition using pure shapes as well as Malevich’s own theory of pure abstraction in art; for him, this implies “everything that goes beyond what has to this date been created in art”.

The focal point of this exhibition was the presentation of the two paintings from his Suprematist period, “Supremus No. 38” from 1916 and “Suprematist Composition” from 1915. The latter underwent substantial restoration for the exhibition and both paintings were subjected to an art-technological examination. The findings were comprehensively documented as part of the exhibition.

On the basis of the results of the examinations carried out (UV, infrared, X-ray) and based upon the history of the paintings (exhibitions; change of owner; earlier restoration measures), the state of preservation of the paintings as they are today, and also how they were created, were rendered visible. From detailed close-ups, the viewers learn how to spot certain traits of painting technique like, for example, surface structures and brush strokes – but also the impact restoration can have on the appearance of the paintings. In preparation the exhibition, also numerous works on paper by Kasimir Malevich were restored.

Like the paintings in the collection, the drawings by Kasimir Malevich too stem from various periods of his work, from his beginnings around 1903 to his famous invention and development of (abstract) Suprematism all the way to his return to figuration. This change of course in his later work has only recently become the subject of art historical research. The extensive Ludwig Collection is ideally suited to the exploration of abstraction as well as figuration. The exhibition gave a better undertanding of the development of Malevich’s work. The confrontation of his early concrete works with his later ones makes a unique comparison possible.

With over 800 works, the Museum Ludwig is home to one of the world’s largest collections of the Russian avant-garde. In May 2009, a series of exhibitions started which highlights new aspects of the collection and its main emphases. The series goes hand in hand with intensive research into the techniques used in the works, the picture frames and the dates.

Curator of the series is Katia Baudin, the deputy director of Museum Ludwig, with Emily Joyce Evans acting as assistant curator. Petra Mandt worked on the art technological examinations and their documentation.

A catalogue which documents the complete findings of the art technological examinations and features further scholarly essays on Kasimir Malevich was published with the support of the Friends of the Wallraf Richartz Museum and the Museum Ludwig e.V.

Museum Ludwig Cologne
Heinrich-Böll-Platz
50667 Cologne - Germany
www.museum-ludwig.de