1.Prologue

The avant-garde art developed in Russia in the 1920s profoundly influenced the architectural style after the Soviet Revolution, and further influenced the development of modernist architecture in the 20th century. This essay will briefly discuss the formation and development of suprematism and constructivism in the Russian avant-garde art movement and how they directly or indirectly affected the subsequent architectural aesthetics and design theories.

The biggest characteristic of the development of the Soviet Union's architectural practice after the revolution is the expansion and application of new structural methods and new materials. These new developments have also had an impact on the creation of painting art, and painters have felt a huge new aesthetic opportunity from these new scenes. This new aesthetic concept is based on simple geometric forms without decorative content. Modern architects are more absorbing the aesthetic characteristics of these new eras from artists' new artistic concepts, rather than directly learning from the theory and practice of engineers and rationalist architects.

The new image of Soviet avant-garde architecture was obtained through collaboration between architects and left-wing painting artists. Without avant-garde artists' perception of the times and decisive abandonment of old concepts before architects, and relying only on the advancement of the architect's wisdom, it would be difficult for the Soviet architectural practice to achieve a leap-forward breakthrough.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the objective conditions necessary for the practice of new styles and forms have been prepared in all aspects of the field of architecture. The only and decisive driving force required is the subjective embracement and shifting of the architect’s ideas. At the turn of the era, avant-garde art such as Cubism, Suprematism, Purism, Neo-Objectivism, Cubism-Futurism, and Constructivism provided a powerful force of innovation for the world with a revolutionary posture of the left-wing.

2.Context of the Russian Avant-garde

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a movement initiated by Marxists to overthrow the Tsarist regime. It is generally believed that the tsarist regime must be overthrown in a rotten state.

Russia in 1917 was an agricultural country. Strictly speaking, it has only two large cities: St. Petersburg and Moscow, with a population of close to 2 million. Kiev and Odessa are second-tier central cities with a population of about 500,000. Almost everyone lives in the countryside or on a farm.

Around 1914, Russia became the fastest growing economy among Western developed nations. However, everything was paralyzed by the First World War (1914-1917), the Russian Revolution (1917), the counter-revolutionary civil war (after 1917), and the massive famine in the early 1920s’.

At that time, the fundamental task of Russian political activities was to increase industrialized production, rebuild the country, and earn the support of the people for this nascent socialist regime.

These development goals immediately evoked the strong attention of Russian artists. They will be prepared to undertake the responsibility of propaganda.

Their tasks are:

· Educate the masses about the significance of revolution;

· Reflect the new socialist country in and through "practical aesthetics".

Expect for the huge sociopolitical shift happened in this post-revolution country, an art movement imported by some of the active artists also played the prelude for the following localized art movements. These new waves of the avant-garde arts included cubism and futurism developed initially in French and Italy. The impact leads to a native development of Russian cubism and futurism, which is represented mainly in painting, theatre, and literature practices.

After the intense development of modern art, around 1915, it formed the most radical avant-garde artistic exploration. This avant-garde feature brought together various ideas against objective nature in the development of modern art in the first half of the 1910s in Russia and finally reached a purely spiritual practice in the supremacist practice created by Kashmir Malevich. However, the purely spiritual practice of supremacy out of the world has been questioned by Russian Constructivism. Although these constructivists also conduct purely abstract artistic exploration, they emphasize the role of art playing in life and art practice.

Malevich defined the time when Suprematism began as 1913, and the real practice of Suprematism began in 1925 from painting. The characteristic of supremacist painting is the complete rejection of depicting concrete visual objects. Create with geometric forms such as circles, squares, triangles and pure colors, emphasizing the sublime of pure artistic feeling

Russian Constructivism is one of the avant-garde art movements in Russia. Practice started in 1915. Constructivists oppose autonomous art and emphasize that art should be practiced based on social purpose. Because of its practical spirit, the influence of its artistic ideas also involves painting, architecture, graphic design, industrial design, and other aspects other than sculpture. There is a clear contradiction with the pure spirituality of art insisted on by the suprematism that occurred and developed in the same period.

3.Kashmir Malevich and suprematism

Malevich believes that Cubism is the most pioneering stage in the artistic exploration against traditional painting. Because Cubism began to break away from nature, it is no longer necessary to describe and portray the state of natural things according to what they see. Cubist observation methods and picture space gave the artist a great degree of freedom. This kind of "freedom" in painting, liberated from the concrete content of a vision, is an important foundation for the emergence of suprematism.

In addition to the influence of Cubism and Russian Futurism, there is also a mathematician who has a major influence on Malevich's art theory. He is the famous Russian mathematician and philosopher Upensky. His research on the "fourth dimension" attracted Malevich. Upensky believes: "Observing things cannot pay attention to their appearance, but should see the essence of their connotation, and this essence exists in a space with more dimensions. Artists should have the ability to see things that others can't see. "Through Upensky’s interpretation from the perspective of mathematics and philosophy, Malevich understood that there may be multiple dimensions in human cognition, that is to say in the two-dimensional plane space and three-dimensional space that we can see with vision. Above, there is a four-dimensional or even higher-dimensional space. The visual phenomenon of three-dimensional space is only the projection of the content of the upper-dimensional space on the three-dimensional level, and these upper-layer spaces that are quotient in three dimensions are not observable by our naked eyes.

Malevich declared the end of suprematism in 1922. He himself ended the exploration of suprematism in two-dimensional painting and turned to the experiment of three-dimensional form. From 1923 to 1926, Malevich conducted many experiments on the volume and space of buildings. The architectural forms that Malevich practiced can be roughly divided into two ways: One is directly derived from early supremacist paintings. The relationship between the volumes is the three-dimensionalization of the relationship between the color forms in the painting; the other way is the vertical development of the building volume. Malevich uses pure rectangular blocks to form a towering architectural style. His building experiment had no actual function, and there was no space to penetrate within the volume. Suprematism suggests that architecture can have the most essential thinking, that is, the points, lines, and planes in the plan are considered as spatial structures. The most important and essential content should not be the flow, functional organization, and the hypocritical relationship with the surrounding environment, but the harmony of its own internal spatial order and the regulation of its own spatial rhythm and rhythm.

Malevich envisions his architectural design as a spacecraft that can be used for floating and cruising on earth. In responding to the problem of the gap between this unrealistic fantasy and the building technology, Malevich believes that the reason why his architecture cannot be realized is not because of his lack of consideration, but because of his faith in a point of view of his theory, that the ability to construct dreams is an important distinction between designers in the art category and ordinary designers. He firmly believes that consideration of the operability of reality should not hinder the development of the artist’s concept, otherwise the artist (or architect) will become an engineer. In Malevich’s world view, technological limitations are only temporary. A true designer should not be the builder or reorganizer of the current world, he should be the creator of the future world.

4.Vladmir Tatlin and Constructivism

At the same time as the progression of suprematism, other artistic experiments were also being carried out. "Formalists"-whose orientation is very clear-are more directly related to the industrial conditions of modern society and what modern society can provide. Materials used for aesthetic practice and political purposes.

Tatlin was obsessed with the possibility of engineering structures and made the steel structure industry a reality on a scale that architects can use. Just like his projects like the "The Monument to the Third International", both political and social symbolism are concerned in a way that directly connects with popular emotions. The proposal itself is not just an intentional steel structure space sculpture exhibit: the plan accommodates three parliament halls, which rotate on a cycle of a day, month, and year, and are set to be associated with major events in Soviet state governance. In a sense, the scale and operating cycle of the program re-emerged symbolic meaning for the new socialist country, a familiar theological symbol of the cosmic order (it was not completely wiped out by the revolution)-in this level, the project "explains" socialism in a language that Russian Orthodox believers can understand. The project effectively utilizes the industrialized power of steel structures and rhetorical tension and uses its own religious background and non-socialist cognitive framework to communicate with the general public.

Tatlin's "lightness" is the structure that liberates the essence from the form, the real creation from imitation, and the freedom of movement from gravity. A free world picture can be presented and strengthened step by step. The Monument to the Third International proposal achieves expression beyond the boundaries of painting, sculpture, and architecture, and realizes the feeling of "lightness" in the concept.

In 1915 Tatlin participated in the last exhibition of Futurism, the "0.10" painting exhibition. In the exhibition, he exhibited a sculpture "Anti-sculpture" that uses corner space. In this sculpture, the main body of the work is separated from the wall. The main body and the walls on both sides of the corner are pulled and fixed by the "line" element so that the main body "floats" in the space so that the spatial structure formed by the constituent materials and the combination of the materials themselves are independent of the surrounding space. The homogenization of space throughout the material is not bound by the gravity system.

This kind of space concept is the objective and more real space state of the new scientific understanding. The sculpture which is on earth in the conceptual universe is the same as the earth objectively in the universe. It has the same status and meaning in structure, and is independent and freely suspended in space. The project is no longer dependent and succumbing to the earth or other "things", but the direct projection result of the artist's conceptual world in the broad concept of space. What needs to be clarified is that this way of thinking about the connection between avant-garde artists' works and the universe is based on the common ideals displayed by the pioneers in the early 20th century.

Because in the time of Tatlin. Both Italian futurists and native Malevich and other pioneers were attracted and inspired by flying, which symbolizes the state of human beings free from the bondage of the earth and flies to the unknown distance. After that, he used a single iron sheet material to create his "Constitution" in 1916 and explored the relationship between the volume of the surface iron sheet curved in space and the composition of the same materials with different shapes. Tatlin expressed more concentration on space and materials. At the same time, the materials and forms used by Tatlin have new features independent of Cubism. Materials such as metal and glass, which have the technical characteristics of the new era which were more powerful, appeared in a large number of works. The form of the constituent elements was different from the fuzzy and soft boundary of Cubism. The trajectories of his straight lines and curves are very clearly characterized by mathematical precision. His design theory advocates creating clear and expressive spaces. The tough lines, sharp corners, exaggerated form, and preference for new materials and tectonics in the new era all hint at the influence of futurism on him, not just cubism. After Vladimir Tatlin, more architects put his ideas and theories into practice and exploration.

5.Development and practice in the 1920s’

In 1920, Malevich and El Lissizky co-founded "Molposnovis", an alliance of students, professors, and artists centered on suprematism study. By participating in this organization, Lissizky raised his status to a leading figure in the avant-garde art movement. Based on such a foundation, during the period of joint exploration with Malevich, Lissizky hopes to develop a self-characteristic style on the road of suprematism theory. These explorations are a series of abstract geometric paintings from the visual form. It is called "Proun". "Proun" is mainly Lissizky’s exploration of three-dimensional spatialization using the plane visual language of suprematism. This kind of exploration uses "axonometric" and "multi-perspective" methods to express spatial elements, both of which are spatial perspectives that are not found in "orthogonal" suprematism. Lissizky used the architectural approach on the previous two-dimensional supremacist painting planes, trying to make the abstract space of suprematism able to transcend the previous limitation of plane form. The forms of his works include the most direct paintings, flat prints, and three-dimensional spatial illustrations. These works also laid the foundation for Lissizky’s future experiments in architectural design. In these works, the basic elements of architecture such as volume, volume, color, space, and rhythm can clearly see the influence of Suprematism. At the same time, the content that was not originally in the concept of Suprematism also affects Suprematism itself. Exploration in three-dimensional space. In Lissizky’s "Proun" world, a new and better utopian model of the world is unfolded. The concept of "Horizontal Skyscrapers" later proposed by Lissizky is one of the most famous of his architectural utopia projects.

Among the architects directly affected by constructivism, Konstantin Melnikov has to be mentioned. Since he completed a great number of realistic projects, he was the most internationally recognized Soviet pioneer architect. As a pure architectural practitioner, he did not directly participate in the related activities and research of avant-garde art, but in that special era, his series of inspiring works have the same exploratory spirit as avant-garde art, and the new Materials, new construction methods, and the practice of new aesthetic concepts. From a historical perspective, his works are the practice and advancement of constructivism. In 1925, he designed the Soviet pavilion for the World Exposition. Through a refreshing spatial structure, he completed the expression of mechanical aesthetics triggered by light components in the 1920s. In the same year, the exploration of modern architecture in the Soviet Union was at its peak. The newly established Association of Modern Architects is basically composed of constitutive practitioners. The association founded the "Modern Architecture" magazine the following year, propagating that their ideas and thinking about new buildings inherit the spirit of futurists, firmly oppose tradition, and use revolution and exploration of the new world as the keynote. Modern science and technology and the atmosphere of industrial production are the new aesthetic foundation they admire. Throughout the world, this radical enthusiasm for exploration and innovation of new architectural styles has been promoted most efficiently in Soviet Russia, which has just experienced huge sociopolitical changes and redistributed productivity.

As a younger generation of Melnikov, Leonidov was an architect who did not have many practical opportunities, but this did not seem to affect him to be remembered in the history of architecture. Leonidov is probably the most courageous among the Constructivists. Almost all of his architectural ideas in his life can be referred to as paper architecture. From the very beginning, he was too bold to place his architectural ideals far away in the space world. Every tower on the drawing makes it difficult for airplanes to reach the top. They are all monuments to human science and technology that point directly to the universe and celestial bodies. Steel and concrete can even fly in his ideal world because it is a new world without gravity. But the construction of the space world is cold and lonely, and inner fears need to be overcome. Leonidov got there before others with his courage and confidence.

In 1927, constructivist architecture had developed into a period of decline after its maturity, and there were bottlenecks in the exploration and imagination of new design. Leonidov’s Lenin Institute can be regarded as a booster, and the influence gained from it was notable, the contribution of the project was as significant to the development of skyscrapers in the modern architectural language of the 20th century as any other modernist master's proposal. The design of the Lenin Institute is an organic whole composed of four relatively independent components, like a social complex. The slender volume used as an office building is spread out in the horizontal direction, and the two components orthogonal to it are the research building and the bridge across the river; the intersection of the two volumes is a building that controls the vertical spatial orientation of the entire project The library building; the division between the entity and the glass surface is clear, concise and powerful, so that this vertical volume completely distinguishes the atmosphere of the thousand monuments, with light mechanical power and a strong sense of future. The most glamorous finishing touch of the whole project is the suspended spherical auditorium in this space field composed of powerful straight lines, which can accommodate 4000 people. Its structure is supported by a lower inverted frustum-shaped steel frame, and together with the sphere, it forms a hovering state like a hot air balloon that is transpiring upward. Through the combination and arrangement of several components, the entire building forms an interactive spatial organism. Although all the shapes are extremely simple geometric lines, through the control of form, proportion, and spatial relationship between them, Leonidov has created an entirety with a strong sense of movement in this static composition.

From the performance drawings of this building, we can see that the center of the visual space of the drawing, the center of vision, and the overall center of the constituent members are misaligned and offset. The control of this plane is to form a space with inherent movement tension in the three-dimensional volume. One of the operating methods. At the same time, the windmill-shaped arrangement in the orthogonal system is also an important way for Leonidov to create a sense of plane movement, which implies the spatial system in De Stijl painting. These spatial generation methods have become an important feature in his future designs.

As the backbone of the Constructivist movement, Leonidov had clear thought about the artistic expression of architecture. Similar to Tatlin’s opposition to Malevich’s supremacy trend towards nothingness, Leonidov believes that in the new socialist world, the task that architects should undertake is not to design for art. He believes that the role of architects is the conceptor of the future world. It is necessary to have a keen grasp of the new world scene brought about by the development of science and technology, and to design for the construction of future life. The way and scene of human life in the future are important elements of design. All in all, Leonidov's architectural vision has a clear directionality, which refuses to stagnate and regress.

But whether it is Suprematism's pursuit of artistic abstraction or constructivism's radical exploration of new forms, the thoughts conveyed in the pursuit of romance and human freedom have essentially touched the bottom line of the Soviet government's control over the people's ideology. Given their political disqualification, and also considering that the official party principle of Marx-Leninism is that "socialism must be built on the political and economic system of the past", classicism has more or less become the only form recognized by the rulers. However, for the Soviet leadership, it does not need to be carefully distinguished to see that classicism also implies legitimacy and authority. As a kind of "closed" method, the problem with classicism is whether it has the revolutionary potential for continuous development. The works of the constructivist practice architect represented by Leonidov and more artists who participated in the avant-garde art movement were suppressed and opposed by the authorities. From the propaganda posters we later saw and a large number of Stalinist buildings that compromised between classical style and modern functions, we saw that the Soviet avant-garde art movement did not leave much physical heritage on the land that gave birth to it. The leaders of socialism finally resorted to classical authority; the form of radical personal participation in painting and architecture transformed into propaganda speeches. In the propaganda poster, the graphics and text are kept separate, each conveying its political information, which is completely different from the way that constructivism and supremacism mix and merge them. This is where the post-revolutionary avant-garde history ends, as it enters the long years of stagnation in communism and moves towards the centralized rule of Joseph Stalin. However, representing the avant-garde movement, the contribution and bold practice to art and architectural theories of the Supremacists and Constructivists around the 1920s still exude their fascinating charm in history.