Dadaism and Soviet Constructivism

Dadaism and Soviet Constructivism

            Dadaism is an artistic movement that started during the first world war. The start of Dadaism was initiated by political, social, and economic factors at that time. Dadaism embraced elements of art such as music, dance, poetry, and theatre. Constructivism on the other was an artistic and architectural philosophy that was started in Russia in the year 1913. Constructivism had significant influence in the field of architecture and design in the 20th century. Constructivists started their architectural work by working on three-dimensional structures and later they started working on two-dimensional features such as a book. Both Dadaism and Constructivism are two artistic movements, and despite all the similarities, historians have considered the two movements as totally two different concepts.

Dadaism started during the first world war while Constructivism started during the Russian revolution. Dadaism gained more popularity between 1916 and 1922 and some of its famous followers at this time were Antonin Artaud and Max Ernst (Abella,2017). In the beginning, Dadaism was interested in going against the wishes of the community. Dadaism later gained popularity in the Western Europe countries such as Berlin. Dadaism was then taken to Paris by Tristan Tzara. “The Gas Heart” was one of the famous works of Tristan Tzara. Tristan Tzara was the head of Dadaism in Paris at this time. Constructivism was founded during the Russian revolution by Vladimir Tatlin (Barris,2017). The Constructivists used to work in streets and public festivals as designers during the Russian Revolution. The members of the movement used to present their views during the revolution by doing writings in public places where their writings could be seen. One of the famous writings by the Constructivists was “Our streets our bushes.” The Constructivists actively participated in the Russian revolution with the other members of society. Most of the art movements at this moment were named by critics, but Dadaism was exceptional. The founder artists themselves named Dadaism movement while critics named the Constructivism movement. Therefore, both Dadaism and Constructivism art movements started during a critical time in history, and the two movements had different starting ways.

Charged political environments and change in method of production made people change their lifestyles resulting in both the Dadaism and the Constructivism movements (LOGGIA,2016). During the first world war, people participated in the war, and they needed to use art inventions, which led to the birth of Dadaism artistic movement. During the Russian revolution, more reforms ranging from economic to social reforms made people to change their lifestyles resulting in the establishment of the Constructivism artistic movement (Walworth,2017). Due to revolution, new machines were introduced that were used for agricultural purposes and in trade, and therefore, art was essential for daily activities. The Constructivism was interested in the establishment of the art in lives of people to bring the change while the Dadaism was focused on implementing the idea of the Constructivists to ensure that art is firmly established in every aspect of life. Therefore, the factors that led to the establishment of the Dadaism and Constructivism art movements were the same, but the goals of the two movements were different. Constructivism goal was to continue with improving the existing art, and they can be viewed as politically neutral. On the other hand, Dadaism goal was to destruct the old existing culture and values and establish a new culture, and they can be viewed as politically rebellious. The factors that led to the formation of Dadaism and Constructivism artistic movements were the same, but the two movements had different goals to achieve.

Dadaism statements and its ways of expression revealed that the movement was focused on destructing what was already existing and establish their new structures. Some writers describe Dadaism as a movement where a newborn child was very much important for the movement than the existing old members of the movement. Dadaism was a movement of negation that was always against society. However, Dadaism claims were not a reality but rather a staged performance (Abella,2017). Dadaism used to organize for performances and acts that challenged the old culture and showed the importance of the new way of life. The works of Dadaism were concealing and also clearly expressing the opinions of the movement. Also, Dadaism used written words and manifests to express their revolutionary ideas to the members of the society. Most members of the society doubted that the movement was going to failure and their opinions were not received by many people. The Dadaists later changed from society revolts to art revolutionists. Dadaism used art to simplify and make life easier. On the other hand, the Constructivism had no negative attitude towards the existing forms of arts as compared to the Dadaism. Constructivists were focused on bringing change by improving what already existed and therefore, the Dadaism made way for the Constructivism. The Constructivism had one objective of bringing important new values into existence and withhold good existing values. The strategy of the Constructivism was to replace beauty with truth, uncertainty with certainty, and craft with machine production. The Constructivism movement seemed to have more influence on society as compared to the Dadaism art movement. The methods used by Constructivism for social engagement were the same methods used by the Dadaism to convince the members of the society. Therefore, Constructivists were focused on bringing change by improving the already the existing mechanisms while Dadaists wanted to bring reforms by destroying the old existing values.

Dadaism was more of philosophy during its establishment, but later it concentrated more on the graphics and artistic works. During the start, Dadaism was a philosophy that was against the authoritarian rule. The earlier founders of Dadaism had much interest in political matters than in graphics and art. However, the Dadaism philosophy was not well received by the members of the society and therefore, the movement shifted most of its attention to artistic works. Dadaism artistic works have an influence in modern art history. Some graphics that were invented by the Dadaists are present in the history of modern art. Dadaism works that are significant to modern art history are the photomontage process and the use of typographic elements (Dianat,2017). Also, the Constructivism movement works have a great effect on modern art history. Designs that were invented and used by the Constructivists still exist in modern art history. Constructivism performed key architectural and design works in Russia. The proposal for Monument to the Third International, which was linked with the machine aesthetic by Tatlin was a major achievement for the Constructivists. Tatlin’s work was hailed by other designers from the other countries, which was key in popularizing the Constructivism movement. In 1921, the new economic policy was established in the Soviet Union, and this gave the Constructivists the opportunity to apply their design skills in advertisements. The Constructivists came up with attractive images for advertisements, which was a key achievement by the Constructivism movement. The Constructivists showed their willingness in the fashion market and how they can easily change the fashion market. Both the Dadaism and Constructivism movements works have an effect on modern art history.

Dadaism is characterized by its intuitive translational form while the Constructivism is characterized by objective beauty and pure form. Both the Dadaism and the Constructivism share artistic approaches such as architecture, journal projects, photography, and typography (Anderson,2015). Dadaism and Constructivism artistic movements are characterized by their establishment in critical historical moments. The Dadaism and Constructivism movements sometimes worked together. The two movements would arrange activities such as public demonstrations to present their views. Also, some artists used to work for both the Dadaism and the Constructivism movements. George Braque who was a Constructivist performed Cubist work, which was an artistic achievement for the Constructivism. The Dadaists, on the other hand, created poems that were systematic and conceptual in expressing their opinions to the members of the society. The poems and music by the Dadaists suggested the spirit of the movement. Both the Dadaism and the Constructivism were involved in the design of the elemental structures such as works of art and also poetry. Both the Dadaism and the Constructivism were involved in graphics and editorial works, which saw the two movements publish books and magazines.

In summary, Dadaism and Constructivism are art movements that were established at critical moments in history. Dadaism was established during the first world war while Constructivism was established during the Russian Revolution. Dadaism was first established in Zurich, Switzerland as an artistic and literary movement. Dadaism arose as a result of the first world war where the Dadaists felt the need to react against the authoritarian rule. The Dadaists goal was to come up with new values by destroying the old values. Dadaists presented their opinions by use of poems, songs, and also through making publications. Dadaism started as a philosophy, but the movement later turned into an artistic movement where the Dadaists were involved in photography and other artistic works. Constructivism was started in Russia as an artistic and architectural movement. The strategy for the Constructivism was to replace craft with machinery. Both the Dadaism and Constructivism used poems, journals, and writings for social engagements. The two artistic movements were involved in public demonstrations to present their opinions. Artistic and design works by Dadaism and Constructivism movements have an effect on modern art history. Same social, political and economic factors led to the establishment of both the Dadaism and Constructivism movements.  The goal for the Constructivism movement was to bring reforms by improving the new existing values while the goal for the Dadaism movement was to bring revolution by introducing new values and destroying all the other old values. Despite several similarities between the two artistic movements, Dadaism is considered to be focused on intuitive thought and translational while Constructivism is considered to be focused on objective beauty and pure forms.

References

Abella, R. F. (2017). DADA/USA. Connections between the Dada movement and eight American fiction writers (Doctoral dissertation, Universidad de La Rioja).

Anderson, R. (2015). Russia: modern architectures in history. Reaktion Books.

Barris, R. (2017). Exhibiting Russia: Revising, Reframing, and Reinterpreting the Russian             Avant-Garde. Experiment, 23(1), 142-157.

Dianat, F. (2017). The Study on History of Photomontage and the Efficiency of Art Schools on   it. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 6(4), 176-191.

LOGGIA, R. (2016). The Legacy of Dadaism. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Dramatica, 61(1).

Walworth, C. (2017). Soviet Salvage: Imperial Debris, Revolutionary Reuse, and Russian Constructivism (Vol. 23). Penn State Press.