Aleksandr Michajlovic Rodcenko Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, Sculptor, Photographer, b. 1891 - d. 1956

(b. 1891, St. Petersburg, Russia; d. 1956, Moscow, Russia) Russian artist and photographer. Alexander Rodchenko attended art school in 1910 in Kazan, and then moved to Moscow in 1914 where he studied at the Stroganow School for applied arts. Early on, Rodchenko rejected the established ideals of popular art and moved toward abstraction. In 1916 he exhibited in a show organized by Vladimir Tatlin with other avant-garde artists. When the Russian Revolution began in 1917, Rodchenko was a young artist, and this event would greatly impact his career and artistic path. After the revolution, he played an important role in creating the Constructivist art movement and fresh forms of expression in the young Soviet Union. The Constructivist movement called for art with a purpose or use, often using abstract and objective forms, and included designs for industry. In the mid 1920s, after having excelled in the arts in Moscow, Rodchenko began to experiment with photography and photomontage. His first pictures were of his family, friends, and colleagues; after returning to Moscow from a trip to Paris, he began to document on film the social and physical changes of the city. In the late 1920s, Rodchenko, along with other Constructivists, developed the idea of “Art in Production,” and worked in advertising and design. This concept focused on the idea of incorporating art into the design of everyday utility objects. During the 1930s, Rodchenko worked as a sort of artistic director at a magazine and also began to paint again. Rodchenko is considered to be one of the founders of the Russian Constructivist art movement.