Page 32 - Studio International - October1973

9 Alan C. Birnholz, 'El Lissitzky, the Avant Garde, Lissitzky, who worked in a wide range of media, did Lissitzky-Küppers's El Lissitzky in Art Bulletin, Vol.
and the Russian Revolution,' Artforum, Vol. II, so little in sculpture may be linked both to the 54, No. 3, September 7972, pp. 369-371 (contra in
No. 1, September 1972, pp. 71-73. prohibition against 'graven' (i.e. carved) images and Andrei Boris Nakov, 'Alexander Rodchenko,' Arts,
10 Birnholz, 'El Lissitzky, the Avant Garde, and the to sculpture's unsuitability for the delicate spatial Vol. 47, No. 6, April 1973, p. 27).
Russian Revolution,' pp. 70-76. ambiguities he sought in Proun. 62 See Williams, pp. 7-9.
11 Lissitzky-Küppers, p. 15. 37 Abraham Joshua Heschel, 'Symbolism and Jewish 63 El Lissitzky, 'Vegen der mohilever schul,'
12 Alexander Vucinich wrote that 'official anti- Faith,' in F. Ernest Johnson, ed., Religious Milgroim, No. 3, 7923, pp. 9-13 (in Hebrew in
Semitism was the main reason for the comparatively Symbolism, New York, 1955, p. 56. Rimon, No. 3, 1923, pp. 9-12).
large enrollment of Russian Jews in Western 38 Eckhard Neumann, 'Henryk Berlewi and 64 Birnholz, 'El Lissitzky, the Avant Garde, and the
universities' (Politics, Universities, and Science,' in Mechano-Faktura,' Typographia, No. 9, June 1964, Russian Revolution,' p. 73.
Theofanis George Stavrou, ed., Russia under the p. 23. 65 Letter from El Lissitzky to J. J. P. Oud, dated
Last Tsar, Minneapolis, 1969, p. 165). 39 El Lissitzky, 'Suprematism in World March 26, 1924, in the Stedelijk van Abbemuseum,
'3 On Jews at the Darmstadt school, see Robert C. Reconstruction,' in Lissitzky-Küppers, p. 33o. Eindhoven.
40 Quoted by Howard Morley Sachar, The Course 66 Poncé, p. 175.
Williams, Culture in Exile, Russian Emigres in
Germany, 1881-1941, Ithaca, 1972, p. 33. 'In the of Modern Jewish History, New York, 1958, P. 143. 67 Ilya Ehrenburg, Shest povestie o legkikh kontsakh,
holidays he ventured on long trips, which took him 41 Gitelman, pp. 302-303. Moscow-Berlin, 1922.
as far as Worms. There Lissitzky made drawings of 42 For a discussion of Jewish art repeatedly adopting 68 Birnholz, 'El Lissitzky, the Avant Garde, and the
the interior of the centuries-old synagogue, in the forms and styles of the 'majority culture', see Russian Revolution,' p. 71.
particular the lion reliefs, which were to reappear in Heinrich Strauss, 'Jewish Art as a Minority 69 Gitelman, p. 355.
his later Jewish illustrations. The anonymous stone- Problem,' Jewish Journal of Sociology, Vol. 2, No. 2, 7° Schapiro, p. 167.
mason of the Middle Ages had as much significance November 1960, pp. 147-171. 71 Thanks to Professor John Paoletti for his
for this student of architecture as the great artists 43 'Then there was an old friend, a schoolmate. I suggestion that there may be a connection with the
whose names have come down to us in history' had called him to my side as an assistant. He was stigmata.
(Lissitzky-Küppers, p. 16). working in some sort of office. What's the point of it, Recently Kate Steinetz, a close friend of Lissitzky,
14 Mark Aldanov, 'Russian Jews of the 187os and I thought; he's wasting his time here. I took him voiced her doubts that 'the circle in the rear of the
1880s,' in Jacob Frumkin, Gregor Aronson, and with me. He was very glad and to show his head of Lissitzky is meant to be a halo, to glorify the
Alexis Goldenweiser, eds., Russian Jewry (1860-1917), gratitude he, too, lost no time in going over to my creative work of the artist. Lissitzky has closed the
New York, 1966, pp. I I-12; Gregor Aronson, 'Jews enemies' (Marc Chagall, My Life, New York, 1960, door locking out old time (Christian symbol).
in Russian Literary and Political Life,' in Frumkin, pp. 742-743). See also Abram Efros, Profili, Moscow, However, the perfect form of the circle is eternal.
Aronson, and Goldenweiser, pp. 253-294; Henry J. 1930, pp. 200-201 and Troels Andersen, Moderne Perhaps it means the sun of reason. It is not quite
Tobias, The Jewish Bund in Russia from its Origins to Russisk Kunst 1910-193o, Copenhagen, 1967, pp. closed, but allows the artist-explorer to enter. There
1905, Stanford, California, 1972, pp. I-1o; Jurgen 97-98. is much more for him to learn and to discover'
Rühle, Theater und Revolution, Munich, 1963, 44 See Malevich's 'God is Not Cast Down' of 1922 (ARLIS/NA Newsletter, Vol. 1, Nos. 3-4, Summer
pp. 97-99. On the Jewish Ethnographic Society, see for the similarity between his belief in the ultimate 1973, p. 21).
Abramsky, p. 182. indefinability of God and the Kabbalists' concept of 72 See Lissitzky-Küppers, p. 19. Cf. Kandinsky's
15 Salo W. Baron, The Russian Jew under Tsras and the Divine (K. S. Malevich, Essays on Art 1915- comments on the effect of Russian peasant houses
1933, New York, 1971, pp. 788-223). (`Reminiscences,' in Robert L. Herbert, ed., Modern
Soviets, New York, 1964, p. 185.
Artists on Art, Englewood Cliffs, 7964, p. 31). I
16 Gregor Aronson, p. 148; also Avrahm Yarmolinsky, 45 Alan C. Birnholz, 'El Lissitzky's Writings on have stressed the need to consider the avant garde in
The Jews and Other Nationalities under the Soviets, Art,' Studio International, Vol. 183, No. 942, March
New York, 1928, p. 31. 1972, p. 90. relation to such national traditions in 'The Russian
17 Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The First Circle, New 46 Charles Poncé, Kabbalah, San Francisco, 1973, Avant-Garde and the Russian Tradition,' Art
York and Evanston, 1968, p. 421. p. 171; see also Christian D. Ginsburg, The Kabbalah, Journal, Vol. 32, No. 2, Winter 1972-73, pp. 146-149.
18 Quoted in Zvi Y. Gitelman, Jewish Nationality and London, 1925, pp. 131-138; 143-144. 72a There is an interesting reference in Lissitzky's
Soviet Politics, Princeton, 1972, p. 69. 47 Adolphe Franck, The Kabbalah, The Religious correspondence with Sophie Küppers to the
19 On the Kultur Lige, see Gitelman, pp. 273-276; Philosophy of the Hebrews, [University Books], 7967, relationship between religious rituals and the theatre,
Charles S. Spencer, 'El Lissitzky,' Jewish Quarterly, pp. 115-116. which was the basic principle underlying his approach
Vol. 14, No. 3 (51), August 1966, p. 27. 47a It was at this time that Lissitzky shortened his to the exhibition rooms. In a letter dated March 2,
2° Boris Aronson, passim. name to 'El.' Significant in light of the discussion of 7924 he described various aspects of his convalescence
21 Abramsky, pp. 182-185. the meaning and derivation of 'Proun,' whereas from tuberculosis at a Swiss sanitorium. 'The nurses
22 Chimen Abramsky, 'Eliezer Lissitzky,' Jewish Eliezer meant 'the Lord hath helped,' El' was one of did some wonderful singing yesterday, at the early
Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. I (33), Winter 1962, p. 26. the names, according to the Jewish Kabbalists, of hour of five in the morning. One of them came to me,
23 See Bruno Italiener, Die Darmstädter Pessach- God Himself (Gershom Schloem, 'Der Name Gottes not in her white uniform any more, but completely
Haggadah, Leipzig, 1927-28. und die Sprachtheorie der Kabbala,' Neue Rundschau, dressed in (matt) black. Under the black hood was a
Vol. 83, No. 3, 7972, p. 49o). If nothing else, 'El' white one, and horizontally across her breast she had
24 Franz Landsberger, 'The Illumination of Hebrew
Manuscripts in the Middle Ages and Renaissance,' reflected the hubris of the avant garde and the a narrow silk band, complete with silver badge. Real
in Cecil Roth, ed.,Jewish Art, An Illustrated History, continuation of the centuries-old concept of the artist theatrical stuff. If Moholy had not elaborated the
New York, 1961, col. 382. as divine. publication plans in the Bauhaus, I would advise them
25 Abraham M. Haberman, 'The Jewish Art of the 48 Gershom G. Scholem, On the Kabbalah and Its to include, in the section 'Variety, Circus, Theatre' a
Printed Book,' in Roth, col. 480. Symbolism, New York, 1965, p. 2. piece on Church Theatricals — and I don't just mean
26 A copy of this edition is in the YIVO Library, 49 Landsberger, col. 427. the Catholic Church (Lissitzky-Küppers, p. 40). The
5° Will Herberg,Judaism and Modern Man, New implication, of course, is that he was also thinking of
New York.
27 Troels Andersen, Malevich, Amsterdam, 1970, York, 1951, p. 97. the Jewish ceremony.
no. 54. 51 Herberg, p. 55; also p. 161. 73 Tamotsu Shibutani and Kian M. Kwan, Ethnic
28 Troels Andersen, Vladimir Tatlin, Stockholm, 52 Heschel, p. 55. Stratification, A Comparative Approach, New York,
1968, pp. 40-41. 53 Exodus XX: 5; also Deuteronomy V: 9. 1965, p. 64.
29 Gillian Wise Ciobotaru, 'Art on the Street', 54 Herberg, p. 94. 74 Salo W. Baron, A Social and Religious History
Studio International, Vol. 784, No. 948, p. 145, fig. 1. 55 Heschel, p. 57 (Heschel's emphasis). of the Jews, Vol. I, (New York, 7937, p. 20. 'In part
3° The quote is taken from Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 56 Poncé, p. 94. the character of the Jew is that of the prophet with
August, 1914, New York, 1972, p. 99. I wish to thank 57 Poncé, p. 98. a Messianic vision; in part it reveals the shrewd,
Prof. Robert L. Herbert for suggesting the possible 58 For a discussion of Hegel's impact on Russian practical sense of one who has long had to drive
relationship between this poster and military maps. artists, see Andrew Higgens, 'Art and Politics in the bargains with the suspicious Gentile' (Everett V.
Russian Revolution,' Studio International, Vol. 180, Stonequist, 'The Marginal Character of the Jews,' in
31 Quoted by Gitelman, p. 161.
32 'Most Jews were ambivalent in their feelings No. 927, November 1970, p. 166. For comments on Isacque Graeber and Stuart H. Britt, eds.,Jews in a
toward the Bolsheviks' (Gitelman, pp. 117-118; also Lissitzky as not Hegelian, see Joost Baljeu, 'The Gentile World, the Problem of Anti-Semitism, New
p. 100). Cf. Leonard Schapiro's contention that Problem of Reality with Suprematism, York, 1942, p. 306.
Constructivism, Proun, Neoplasticism, and 75 Stonequist, p. 297. On the 'marginal' status of
`thousands of Jews thronged to the Bolsheviks' (`The
Elementarism,' Lugano Review, Vol. 1, No. I, 1965, many leading Bolsheviks, see Gitelman, pp. 108-110;
Role of the Jews in the Russian Revolutionary
Movement,' Slavonic and East European Review, P. 114. of many Russian Jews, see Williams, passim. On the
Vol. 40, No. 94, December 1961, p. 764). " El Lissitzky, 'New Russian Art,' in Lissitzky- concept of marginality, see also Everett V.
33 Baron, p. 276. Küppers, p. 335 (also in Studio International, Vol. Stonequist, The Marginal Man, A Study in
34 See Gitelman, Chapter IV, 'Disappearing 176, No. 904, October 1968, p. 149). 'The demons, Personality and Culture Conflict, New York, 1937,
according to the Kabbalists, are the grossest and most and Aaron Antonovsky, 'Toward a Refinement of the
Alternatives : The End of the Jewish Socialist
imperfect forms, the "shells" of existence; in short, "Marginal Man" Concept,' Social Forces, Vol. 35,
Parties,' pp. 749-220.
everything that denotes absence of life, intelligence, No. 1, October 1956, pp. 57-62.
35 Exodus XX :4 ; see also Leviticus XXVI :1;
Deuteronomy IV: 16-18 and V: 8. and order' (Franck, p. 119). 76 Stonequist, 'Marginal Character', p. 307.
36 See Roth,Jewish Art, An Illustrated History and 6° See note 58. 77 See note 5.
Joseph Gutmann, 'The "Second Commandment" 61 Poncé, pp. 116-117. 78 On the zaddik, see Poncé, pp. 86-87, and Solomon
and the Image in Judaism,' Hebrew Union College 61a See the excellent discussion of Lissitzky's 'split Schechter, Studies in Judaism, New York, 7970, pp.
Annual, Vol. 32, 1961, pp. 161-174. The fact that personality' in Kenneth C. Lindsay, Review of Sophie 181-182.
136