Page 30 - Studio International - October1973

describes the large number of pogroms that position of the eye on the palm, with the
resulted in the trip to America and the required shadows suggesting a deep cleavage, brings to
passage ticket becoming a veritable liberation mind the stigmata.71
from the horrors of the past. Considered in the The third work we should look at closely is
context of the story, the illustration is not the Prounenraumen, or Proun Rooms on which
difficult to interpret. Over a Kabbalist text Lissitzky worked from 1923 to 1927. As one
rests a black hand on which appear, once again, who steadfastly believed in architecture as the
the letters `peh' and 'noon' to signify that the most important art, since it would achieve in
Jewish past of the Shtetl has been buried in fact what the Proun compositions only
favour of the transatlantic voyage alluded to at promised, it was logical for Lissitzky to create
the top. But if we examine A Journey to America environments according to the principles of
for what it tells us about Lissitzky, another Proun. But it is no coincidence that in 1916,
interpretation arises. It is doubtful that the when he was examining the art and structure
Kabbalist text has indeed been quashed by the of synagogues most intensively, he was also
hand or by the letters, which also refer, of beginning to show an interest in museum and
course, to Proun. Instead, this area of the exhibition design.72 The purpose and plan of
illustration holds its own against, if not the Proun Rooms are strikingly similar to the
surpasses, the 'modern' elements above. This synagogues'72a. As in the synagogue, the
meaning is supported by remembering that participant in the Proun Room was to gain some
Lissitzky's father had, after all, come back from idea of the nature and perfection of the
America and that the Jewish Kabbalah universe as he handled the various objects in
Here are Two Squares from
Story of Two Squares 1922 remained ever after a major part of Lissitzky's the room. The fundamental nature of the
personality and thought. All is then placed experience in the Proun Room as an 'event'
within the Star of David, whose agitated leads us back to my earlier remarks on the way
years. Particularly in Berlin he encountered a contortions represent some of the psychological God revealed Himself. Finally, the emphasis
thriving Jewish culture.62 Typical of his work tension I alluded to at the end of Part II. on the participant making discoveries by
in Berlin was the publication in Milgroim of his Second is The Constructor (Self-Portrait) himself, as he moved through the Proun Room
recollections of copying the art in the Schul at done in 1924. This work illustrates Lissitzky's at his own pace, parallels the ritual of the
Mohilev in 1916.63 That Lissitzky should be growing doubt and uncertainty about his Jewish service, in which within a general
concerned in 1923 with the interior decoration ability to produce truly avant-garde structure of communal worship there remained
of this synagogue would have great importance compositions at a time when the Soviet regime the opportunity to proceed as one wished. If
for his desire to make the Prounbild into a was becoming increasingly strident in its earlier I could point to the communal tradition
Prounenraum. demands for an art both 'socialist' in content throughout the history of Judaism, I must also
If we keep this interest in Jewish art in mind and 'realist' in form. 68 The Revolution's stress that 'Judaism is an intensely
we can understand more completely a number betrayal of avant-garde art extended also to a individualistic religion.'73
of works Lissitzky did at this time. The title rejection of the viable, modern Jewish culture
page of The Four Goats of 1922 recalls the effort Lissitzky hoped to create. 'The Jews had been
in Chad Gadyo to combine modern late-comers to the revolution', Z. Y. Gitelman
typographical principles with Jewish subject wrote, 'and their "civil war" period began in
matter. Lissitzky alluded to this dual status by earnest only in 1921. After the "Jewish civil
signifying the number four by the Hebrew war" had ended in 1923, a "Jewish NEP" was
daled, a Roman numeral, the four dots, and the introduced. A policy of reconciliation with the
four lines. Similarly the reference in Beat the "petit bourgeois elements" was announced by
Whites with the Red Wedge to the Jewish past the Central Bureau.'69 Thus those restrictions
surfaces again in the Story of Two Squares. In on Jewish culture, which earlier had provided
this work Lissitzky acts once more as the one impetus toward Lissitzky's movement to
melammed, the teacher of children, to whom the Proun, now gave way to the government's
Story is dedicated. Moreover, if the red square policy of backsliding. What Lissitzky reveals
meant, as I have shown elsewhere,64 Lissitzky's in The Constructor was his recognition that
allegiance both to the Revolution and to the `the Russian Jewish revolutionary was as much
avant garde, we must now recognize its the victim of the Russian Revolution as its
reference to the Jewish tradition. Similar to the instigator. The revolution which he wanted to
Platonist view of the square as 'harmony' and create was not the kind which in the end he
`perfection'65 was the belief that 'because the helped to create,'70
Hebrew language does not employ vowels in As a result Lissitzky's decision to cast
written form, the correct pronunciation of this himself as a martyr in this self-portrait is not
ineffable name of God was lost and not surprising. The impotent gesture of the hand
rediscovered until 30o c.e. by the Kabbalists tells us that the power of the artist is gone.
who gave it the title Tetragrammaton, "the word Lissitzky heightened this meaning by doing
of four letters," and "the square name," or what had happened so often throughout the
more simply, "the square." ' 66 history of Jewish art: he has gone to non-
In particular, three works by Lissitzky Jewish sources for his symbolic imagery. His
emerge in a new light once we analyse them role as prophet and messiah, indicated by the
with respect to his Jewish background. First `modernized' halo in the upper left, contrasts
is A Journey to America of 1922, a collage with the outstretched palm recalling the
illustration for `Shifs-karta' in Ilya Ehrenburg's crucified Christ. The compass evokes the nails A Journey to America from Ilya Ehrenburg's
Six Stories with Light Endings.67 This story used to affix Christ's hand to the cross, and the Six Stories with Light Endings 1922

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