THE COLLECTION
Proun 19D
El Lissitzky (Russian, 1890-1941)
1922? Gesso, oil, paper, and cardboard on plywood, 38 3/8 x 38 1/4" (97.5 x 97.2 cm). Katherine S. Dreier Bequest. © 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
172.1953
2006
Proun (pronounced pro-oon) is an acronym for the Russian words for "Project for the Affirmation of the New," with which Lissitzky entitled his work between 1919 and 1927. The collaged and painted forms reconceive space and serve as a metaphor for the fundamental transformations in society that Lissitzky thought would result from the Russian Revolution. In the early 1920s, while many of his colleagues renounced painting, which they viewed as elitist, in favor of utilitarian arts such as furniture and graphic design, Lissitzky remained committed to painting as a means to articulate his utopian vision.
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