Title
Composition
1918
Artist
Aleksandr Rodchenko
Russia
5 Dec [in the Gregorian calendar] or 23 Nov [in the Julian calendar] 1891 – 03 Dec 1956
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Details
- Date
- 1918
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on wooden panel
- Dimensions
- 93.0 x 51.5 cm sight (irreg.); 99.1 x 57.0 x 4.7 cm frame (irreg.)
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., black oil "A RODCHENKO [in Russian], 1918 ...".
- Credit
- Purchased 1997
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- 416.1997
- Copyright
- © Estate of Alexander Rodchenko/RAO. Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Aleksandr Rodchenko
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
The composition is painted in transparent oils over a wooden panel possibly taken from a piece of furniture. The curvature of the panel and the grain of the wood have both been incorporated into the design. This use of a found panel and its textures makes it a special object.
Alexandr Rodchenko was a founder of the constructivist movement - a key artistic language of Soviet Russia that he developed with others in the 1920s. His earlier paintings, including 'Composition' 1918, recall the formative influences of cubist and futurist art on constructivism. The composition of dynamic diagonals and shallow arcs penetrating cosmic spheres has surprisingly cubist connections and is reminiscent of Picasso and Braque's guitars in analytic cubist painting. The use of wood grain enhances this association.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Call of the Avant-Garde: Constructivism and Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 05 Jul 2017–08 Oct 2017
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 3 publications
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Edmund Capon, Art Gallery of New South Wales annual report 1998, 'Director's Statement', pg. 7-8, Sydney, 1998, 8 (colour illus.).
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Paintings and Sculpture', pg. 17-77, Sydney, 1999, 57 (colour illus.).
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Andrew Spira, The avant-garde icon: Russian avant-garde art and the icon painting tradition, 'The iconic techniques of the avant-garde', pg.46-125, London, 2008, 93 (colour illus.). no.45
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Provenance
The provenance of this work is under review and records will be updated as new details become available. The Gallery welcomes any information. Contact provenance@ag.nsw.gov.au
Friedman Collection, St Petersburg/Russia, no dates
Alexander Archipenko, late 1970s, St Petersburg/Russia, relative of the sculptor Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964)
Dorothee Altenburg, 1994-Dec 1997, Germany, Purchased by the AGNSW from Mrs Dorothee Altenburg 1997
