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El Lissitzky

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               El Lissitzky
   El Lissitzky in a 1924 self-portrait
         Born November 23, 1890
              Pochinok
      Died    December 30, 1941
              Moscow
   Occupation Artist

   Lazar Markovich Lissitzky listen  (Лазарь Маркович Лисицкий, November
   23, 1890 – December 30, 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (Эль
   Лисицкий), was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, teacher,
   typographer, and architect. He was one of the most important figures of
   the Russian avant garde, helping develop suprematism with his friend
   and mentor, Kazimir Malevich, and designed numerous exhibition displays
   and propaganda works for the former Soviet Union. His work greatly
   influenced the Bauhaus, Constructivist, and De Stijl movements and
   experimented with production techniques and stylistic devices that
   would go on to dominate 20th century graphic design.

   Lissitzky's entire career was laced with the belief that the artist
   could be an agent for change, later summarized with his edict, "das
   zielbewußte Schaffen" (The goal-oriented creation). A Jew, he began his
   career illustrating Yiddish children's books in an effort to promote
   Jewish culture in Russia, a country that was undergoing massive change
   at the time and had just repealed its anti-semitic laws. Starting at
   the age of 15, he began teaching; a duty he would stay with for the
   vast majority of his life. Over the years, he taught in a variety of
   positions, schools, and artistic mediums, spreading and exchanging
   ideas at a rapid pace. He took this ethic with him when he worked with
   Malevich in heading the suprematist art group UNOVIS, when he developed
   a variant suprematist series of his own, Proun, and further still in
   1921, when he took up a job as the Russian cultural ambassador in
   Weimar Germany, working with and influencing important figures of the
   Bauhaus and De Stijl movements during his stay. In his remaining years
   he brought significant innovation and change to the fields of
   typography, exhibition design, photomontage, and book design, producing
   critically respected works and winning international acclaim for his
   exhibition design. This continued until his deathbed, where in 1941 he
   produced one of his last known works — a Soviet propaganda poster
   rallying the people to construct more tanks for the fight against Nazi
   Germany.

Early years

   The last page from Had gadya (One goat) by Lissitzky, 1919.
   Enlarge
   The last page from Had gadya (One goat) by Lissitzky, 1919.

   Lissitzky was born on November 23, 1890 in Pochinok, a small Jewish
   community 50 km southeast of Smolensk, former Russian Empire. During
   his childhood, he lived and studied in the city of Vitebsk, now part of
   Belarus, and later spent 10 years in Smolensk living with his
   grandparents and attending the Smolensk Grammar School. Always
   expressing an interest and talent in drawing, he started to receive
   instruction at the age of 13 from Jehuda Pen, a local Jewish artist,
   and by the time he was 15 began teaching students himself. In 1909, he
   applied to an art academy in Petersburg, but was rejected. While he
   passed the entrance exam and was qualified, the law under the Tsarist
   regime only allowed a limited number of Jewish students to attend
   Russian schools and universities.
   Cover of Yingl Tzingl Khvat (The Mischievous Boy) by El Lissitzky,
   c.1918. Hebrew letters and symbols would also feature prominently in
   his later work, including book designs, lithographs, and Soviet
   exhibition spaces as both visual symbols and aesthetic forms to aid
   composition.
   Enlarge
   Cover of Yingl Tzingl Khvat (The Mischievous Boy) by El Lissitzky,
   c.1918. Hebrew letters and symbols would also feature prominently in
   his later work, including book designs, lithographs, and Soviet
   exhibition spaces as both visual symbols and aesthetic forms to aid
   composition.

   Like many other Jews living in the Russian Empire at the time,
   Lissitzky went to study in Germany. He left the Russian Empire the same
   year to study architecture and engineering at a Technische Hochschule
   in Darmstadt, Germany. During the summer of 1912, Lissitzky, in his own
   words, "wandered through Europe", spending time in Paris and covering
   1200 km on foot in Italy, teaching himself about fine art and sketching
   architecture and landscapes that interested him. In the same year, some
   of his pieces were included for the first time in an exhibit by the St.
   Petersburg Artists Union; a notable first step for Lissitzky. He
   remained in Germany until the outbreak of World War I, when he was
   forced to return home along with many of his countrymen, including
   other expatriate artists born in the former Russian Empire, such as
   Wassily Kandinsky and Marc Chagall.

   After the war, he went to Moscow and attended the Polytechnic Institute
   of Riga, which had been evacuated to Moscow because of the war. He
   received an architectural diploma from the school and immediately
   started assistant work at various architectural firms. During this
   work, he took an active and passionate interest in Jewish culture
   which, after the downfall of the openly anti-semitic Tsarist regime,
   was flourishing and experiencing a renaissance at the time. The new
   Provisional Government repealed a decree that prohibited the printing
   of Hebrew letters and that barred Jews from citizenship. Thus Lissitzky
   soon devoted himself to Jewish art, exhibiting works by local Jewish
   artists, traveling to Mahilyow to study the traditional architecture
   and ornaments of old synagogues, and illustrating many Yiddish
   children's books. These books were Lissitzky's first major foray in
   book design, a field that he would greatly innovate during his career.

   His first designs appeared in the 1917 book Sihas hulin: Eyne fun di
   geshikhten (An Everyday Conversation), where he incorporated Hebrew
   letters with a distinctly Art nouveau flair. His next book was a visual
   retelling of the traditional Jewish Passover song Had gadya (One Goat),
   in which Lissitzky showcased a typographic device that he would often
   return to in later designs. In the book, Lissitzky integrated letters
   with images through a system of color coding that matched the colour of
   the characters in the story with the word referring to them. In the
   designs for the final page (pictured right), Lissitzky depicts the
   mighty "hand of God" slaying the angel of death, who wears the tsar's
   crown. This representation links the redemption of the Jews with the
   victory of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution. Visual
   representations of the hand of God would recur in numerous pieces
   throughout his entire career, most notably with his 1925 photomontage
   self-portrait The Constructor, which prominently featured the hand.

Avant garde

Suprematism

   "Beat the Whites with the Red wedge", a 1919 lithograph by Lissitzky
   Enlarge
   "Beat the Whites with the Red wedge", a 1919 lithograph by Lissitzky

   In 1919, upon receiving an invitation from fellow Jewish artist Marc
   Chagall, Lissitzky returned to Vitebsk to teach graphic arts, printing,
   and architecture at the newly formed People's Art School — a school
   that Chagall created after being appointed Commissioner of Artistic
   Affairs for Vitebsk in 1918. Chagall also invited other Russian
   artists, most notably the painter and art theoretician Kazimir Malevich
   and Lissitzky's former teacher, Jehuda Pen. Malevich would bring with
   him a wealth of new ideas, most of which both clashed with Chagall and
   greatly inspired Lissitzky. After going through impressionism,
   primitivism, and cubism, Malevich started developing and aggressively
   advocating his ideas on suprematism. In development since 1915,
   suprematism rejected the imitation of natural shapes and focused more
   on the creation of distinct, geometric forms. He replaced the classic
   teaching program with his own and disseminated his suprematist theories
   and techniques school-wide. Chagall advocated more classical ideals and
   Lissitzky, still loyal to Chagall, became torn between two opposing
   artistic paths. Lissitzky ultimately favored Malevich's suprematism and
   broke away from traditional Jewish art. Chagall left the school shortly
   thereafter.

   At this point Lissitzky subscribed fully to suprematism and, under the
   guidance of Malevich, helped further develop the movement. Some of his
   most famous works derive from this era, with perhaps his most famous
   being the 1919 propaganda poster "Beat the Whites with the Red wedge"
   (pictured right). Russia was going through a civil war at the time,
   which was mainly fought between the "Reds", who were the communists and
   revolutionaries, and the "Whites" who were the monarchists,
   conservatives, liberals and socialists who opposed the Bolshevik
   Revolution. The imagery of the red wedge shattering the white form,
   simple as it was, communicated a powerful message that left no doubt in
   the viewers mind of its intention. The piece is often seen as alluding
   to the similar shapes used on military maps and, along with its
   political symbolism, was one of Lissitzky's first major steps away from
   Malevich's non-objective suprematism into a style his own. He stated:

     The artist constructs a new symbol with his brush. This symbol is
     not a recognizable form of anything that is already finished,
     already made, or already existent in the world — it is a symbol of a
     new world, which is being built upon and which exists by the way of
     the people.

   Also in 1919, Lissitzky joined and took a prominent role in the
   short-lived but influential UNOVIS group (Russian abbreviation for "The
   Champions of the New"), a proto-suprematist association of students,
   professors, and other artists. Formerly known as MOLPOSNOVIS and
   POSNOVIS, the group was re-branded as UNOVIS when Malevich became
   leader. In February of 1920, under the leadership of Malevich, the
   group worked on a "suprematist ballet", choreographed by Nina Kogan,
   and the precursor to Aleksander Kruchenykh's influential futurist
   opera, Victory Over the Sun. Interestingly, Lissitzky and the entire
   group chose to share credit and responsibility for the works produced
   within the group, signing most pieces with a single, solitary black
   square. This was partly a homage to a similar piece by their leader,
   Malevich, and a symbolic embrace of the Communist ideal. This would
   become the de facto seal of UNOVIS that took the place of individual
   names or initials. The group, which disbanded in 1922, would play a
   pivotal role in the dissemination of suprematist ideology in Russia and
   abroad as well and launch Lissitzky's status as one of the leading
   figures in the avant garde.
   A Proun by Lissitzky, c.1925. Commenting on Proun in 1921, Lissitzky
   stated, "We brought the canvas into circles... and while we turn, we
   raise ourselves into the space."
   Enlarge
   A Proun by Lissitzky, c.1925. Commenting on Proun in 1921, Lissitzky
   stated, "We brought the canvas into circles... and while we turn, we
   raise ourselves into the space."

Proun

   During this period Lissitzky proceeded to develop a variant suprematist
   style of his own, a series of abstract, geometric paintings which he
   called Proun (pronounced "pro-oon"). Proun was essentially Lissitzky's
   exploration of the visual language of suprematism with spatial
   elements, utilizing shifting axes and multiple perspectives; both
   uncommon ideas in suprematism. Suprematism at the time was conducted
   almost exclusively in flat, 2D forms and shapes, and Lissitzky, with a
   taste for architecture and other 3-dimensional concepts, tried to
   expand suprematism beyond this. His Proun works (known as Prounen),
   spanned over a half a decade and evolved from straightforward paintings
   and lithographs into fully 3-dimensional installations. They would also
   lay the foundation for his later experimentations in architecture and
   exhibition design. While the paintings were artistic in their own
   right, their use as a staging ground for his early architectonic ideas
   was significant. In these works, the basic elements of architecture —
   volume, mass, colour, space and rhythm — were subjected to a fresh
   formulation in relation to the new suprematist ideals.

   Jewish themes and symbols also sometimes made appearances in his
   Prounen, usually with Lissitzky using Hebrew letters as part of the
   typography or visual code. For the cover of the 1922 book Teyashim
   (Four Billy Goats) (JPG), he shows an arrangement of Hebrew letters as
   architectural elements in a dynamic design that mirrors his
   contemporary Proun typography. This theme was extended into other
   works, namely his illustration for the books "Shifs-Karta" (Passenger
   Ticket) and "Shifs-Karta." The exact meaning of the word Proun was
   never fully revealed, with some suggesting that it is a contraction of
   "proekt unovsia" ("Architectural design of UNOVIS"), or "proekt
   utverzhdenya novoga" ("Design for the confirmation of the new"). It was
   later defined by Lissitzky ambiguously as "the station where one
   changes from painting to architecture."
   Cover of Merz magazine vol 2, No.8, 1924. See also the back cover
   Enlarge
   Cover of Merz magazine vol 2, No.8, 1924. See also the back cover

Return to Germany

   In 1921, roughly concurrent with the demise of UNOVIS, suprematism was
   beginning to fracture into two ideologically adverse halves, one
   favoring Utopian, spiritual art and the other favoring a more
   utilitarian art that serves society. Lissitzky was fully part of
   neither and left Vitebsk in 1921. He took a job as a cultural
   representative of Russia and moved to Berlin where he was to establish
   contacts between Russian and German artists. There he also took up work
   as a writer and designer for international magazines and journals while
   helping to promote the avant garde through various gallery shows. He
   started the very short-lived, but impressive, periodical
   Veshch-Gerenstand Objekt with Russian-Jewish writer Ilya Erenburg. The
   periodical was intended to show off contemporary Russian art to Western
   Europe, mainly focusing on new suprematist and constructivist works,
   and was published in German, French, and Russian languages. In the
   first issue, Lissitzky wrote:

     We consider the triumph of the constructive method to be essential
     for our present. We find it not only in the new economy and in the
     development of the industry, but also in the psychology of our
     contemporaries of art. Veshch will champion constructive art, whose
     mission is not, after all, to embellish life, but to organize it.

   During his stay he also developed his career as a graphic designer with
   some historically important works such as the book Dlia Golossa (For
   the Voice), a collection of poems from Vladimir Mayakovsky, and the
   book "Die Kunstismen" (The Artisms) together with Jean Arp. There he
   also met and befriended many other artists, most notably Kurt
   Schwitters, László Moholy-Nagy, and Theo van Doesburg. Lissitzky,
   together with Schwitters and van Doesburg, presented the idea of an
   international artistic movement under the guidelines of Constructivism
   while also working with Kurt Schwitters on the issue Nasci (Nature) of
   the periodical Merz (pictured right), and continuing to illustrate
   children's books. After the publishing of his first Proun series in
   Moscow in 1921, Schwitters introduced Lissitzky to the Hanover gallery
   Kestner-Gesellschaft in 1922, where he held his first solo exhibition.
   The second Proun series, printed in Hanover in 1923, was a success,
   utilizing new and sophisticated printing techniques. Later on, he met
   Sophie Kuppers, a widow of an art director of a gallery that Lissitzky
   was showing at, who he would later marry in 1927.

Later years

   Poster for the Russian Exhibition in Zurich, 1929
   Enlarge
   Poster for the Russian Exhibition in Zurich, 1929

   In 1924 Lissitzky went to Switzerland to receive treatment for his
   tuberculosis. He kept very busy during his stay, working on
   advertisements designs for Pelikan Industries (who in turn paid for his
   treatment), translating articles written by Malevich into German, and
   experimented heavily in typographic design and photography. In 1925,
   after the Swiss government denied his request to renew his visa,
   Lissitzky returned to Moscow and began teaching interior design,
   metalwork, and architecture at VKhUTEMAS (State Higher Artistic and
   Technical Workshops), a post he would keep until 1930.

   While there, he all but stopped his Proun works and became increasingly
   active in architecture and propaganda designs. In 1926, he and
   architect Emil Roth designed the Wolkenbügel (Cloud-iron), a unique
   skyscraper on 3 posts planned for Moscow. Although never built, the
   building was a vivid contradiction to America's vertical building
   style, as the building only rose up a relatively modest height then
   expanded horizontally over an intersection so make better use of space.
   Its three posts were on three different street corners, canvassing the
   intersection. An illustration of it appeared on the front cover of
   Adolf Behne's book, Der Moderne Zweckbau, and articles on it written by
   Lissitzky appeared in an issue of the Moscow-based architectural
   review, ASNOVA (The Association of New Architects), and in the German
   art journal Das Kunstblatt.

   In addition to his work in architecture at the time, he also began
   designing numerous exhibition displays for the government including the
   Internationale Kunstausstellung in Dresden, and the Raum Konstruktive
   Kunst (Room for Constructivist art) and Abstraktes Kabinett in Hanover,
   along with many Soviet pavilions including one of their pavilions at
   the 1939 World Fair in New York. One of his most notable exhibits was
   the Polygraphic Exhibit in Moscow in 1927, which won him a state
   appointment as head of the team of artists who would design the coming
   pavilions. His work on the exhibit was radically new, especially
   juxtaposed to the very classical designs of other participating
   countries.
   A photomontage of a building designed, but never built, by Lissitzky,
   Wolkenbügel (Cloud-iron). Lissitzky wrote about the building as being a
   proposal for a new, "rational architecture," as opposed to the trend
   towards massive skyscrapers going on at the time, mostly in the United
   States. See a 3D rendering of the building here (MPEG-1 - 13.25 M)
   Enlarge
   A photomontage of a building designed, but never built, by Lissitzky,
   Wolkenbügel (Cloud-iron). Lissitzky wrote about the building as being a
   proposal for a new, "rational architecture," as opposed to the trend
   towards massive skyscrapers going on at the time, mostly in the United
   States. See a 3D rendering of the building here ^( MPEG-1 - 13.25 M)

   Along with pavilion design, Lissitzky began experimenting with print
   media again. His work with book and periodical design was perhaps some
   of his most accomplished and influential. He launched new and radical
   innovations in typography and photomontage, two fields which he was
   particularly adept in. He even designed a photomontage birth
   announcement in 1930 for his recently born son, Jen. The image itself
   is seen as being another personal endorsement of the Soviet Union, as
   it superimposed an image of the infant Jen over a factory chimney,
   linking Jen's future with his country's industrial progress. Around
   this time, Lissitzky's interest in book design escalated. In his
   remaining years, some of his most challenging and innovative works in
   this field would develop. In discussing his vision of the book, he
   wrote:

     In contrast to the old monumental art [the book] itself goes to the
     people, and does not stand like a cathedral in one place waiting for
     someone to approach... [The book is the] monument of the future.

   He perceived books as permanent objects that were invested with power.
   This power was unique in that it could transmit ideas to people of
   different times, cultures, and interests, and do so in ways other art
   forms could not. This represented a thread of ambition that laced all
   of his work, particularly in his later years. Lissitzky was devoted to
   the idea of creating art with power and purpose; art that could invoke
   change.

   A significant portion of his work during this period was Soviet
   propaganda. He started working for the propaganda magazine USSR im Bau
   (USSR in construction), where some of his most wild experiments with
   book design were produced. Each issue focused on a particular topic
   important to Stalin at the time — a new dam being built, constitutional
   reforms, Red Army progress and so on. In 1941 he became ill again with
   tuberculosis, but still continued to produce works, with one of his
   latest works being a propaganda poster for Russia's efforts in World
   War II, entitled "Davaite pobolshe tankov!" (Give us more tanks!) He
   died on December 30, 1941, in Moscow.

Legacy

   The Constructor, a self-portrait photomontage, c.1925. The hand present
   in the image first appeared as the hand of God in 1919 book design done
   by Lissitzky. The hand re-emerged 6 years later in a redux of his 1924
   self-portrait. It also made appearances in his advertisements for
   Pelikan, and in later Soviet designs.
   Enlarge
   The Constructor, a self-portrait photomontage, c.1925. The hand present
   in the image first appeared as the hand of God in 1919 book design done
   by Lissitzky. The hand re-emerged 6 years later in a redux of his 1924
   self-portrait. It also made appearances in his advertisements for
   Pelikan, and in later Soviet designs.

   Throughout his career, Lissitzky advanced a number of methods, ideas,
   and movements that had a large and significant impact on contemporary
   art — particularly in the fields of graphic design, exhibition design,
   and architecture. Partly because of his constant expansion and
   experimentation into many different mediums and styles, and his spirit
   of innovation in them, Lissitzky's work is generally held in high
   regard by historians and critics. He was one of the principal
   innovators of modern typography and photomontage, both relatively
   nascent fields at the time.

   He was also preoccupied from early to late career with the book design.
   He thought of the book as a dynamic object, a "unity of acoustics and
   optics" requiring the viewer's active involvement. When working on USSR
   im bau he took his experimentation and innovation with book design to
   an extreme. In issue #2 he included multiple fold-out pages, presented
   in concert with other folded pages that together produced design
   combinations and a narrative structure that was completely original at
   the time. He also invested great effort into establishing international
   links between artists and promoting new ideas, helping the avant-garde
   spread across Europe. This started locally with UNOVIS, where he
   attempted to spread and promote new art primarily in Russia, and
   reached its peak with his stay in Germany, where he exchanged ideas
   internationally and helped influence the German Bauhaus and Dutch De
   Stijl movements.

   Along with his efforts towards the advancement of art, Lissitzky worked
   tirelessly for ways to better life with art. For that purpose he chose
   to study architecture in his youth; an artistic medium that directly
   affects and contributes to society. He was an ardent supporter of the
   Communist ideology and devoted a great part of his life and energy in
   its service. Through his Prouns, Utopian models for a new and better
   world were developed. This approach, in which the artist creates art
   with socially defined purpose, could aptly be summarized with his edict
   "das zielbewußte Schaffen" — "the task oriented creation."

   In his later years he brought revolutionary change to exhibition
   design, garnering him respect internationally as well as prestige
   within his own country and government. In exhibition and propaganda
   design, he found an area where he could apply his creative forces in
   the service of society. In his autobiography written in June 1941
   (which was later edited and released by his wife), Lissitzky wrote,
   "1926. My most important work as an artist begins: the creation of
   exhibitions."

Selected works

                               Selected works
                         Type Year Description Media
     Yiddish works 1917 Sihas hulin: Eyne fun di geshikhten (An everyday
                        conversation: A story) Cover
       1919 "Cover of Yingl Tzingl Khvat" (The Mischievous Boy) Cover
               Had gadya (One goat) Cover Page Page Last page
                   1922 Teyashim (Four billy goats) Cover
    Paintings, Posters 1919 Lithograph, Beat the white with the Red wedge
                                    Image
     1929 Poster for the Russian Exhibition, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich
                           Poster Study for poster
                          Proun 1920 Proun 2C Proun
                          1922 Untitled Proun Proun
    Proun children's book Suprematicheskii skaz pro dva kvadrata v shesti
     postroikakh (Suprematist story of two squares in six constructions)
    Cover Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9
                         Page 10 End page Back cover
                            1923 Proun 12E Proun
                          1924 Untitled Proun Proun
                            c.1925 Proun 99 Proun
                            Untitled Proun Proun
     Graphic design 1922 Shest povestei o legkikh kontsakh (Six stories
             about light endings), book by Ilya Ehrenburg Cover
   1923 Layout for Vladimir Mayakovsky, Dlia golosa (For the Voice) Cover
    Page 1 Page 2 Page 3-4 Page 5-6 Page 7-8 Page 9-10 Page 11-12 Page 13
             Page 14 Page 15-16 Page 17-18 Page 21-22 Page 23-24
              Page from program for Victory over the Sun Design
      1924 Merz Layout. Vol 2, No. 8/9, "Nasci," Front cover Back cover
   1925 Die Kunstismen (The Artisms) by Lissitzky and Hans Arp Cover Pages
           1928 Exhibition guidebook of Union der Sozialistischen
   Sowjet-Republiken: Katalog des Sowjet-Pavillons auf der Internationalen
   Presse-Ausstellung(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Catalog of the
    Soviet Pavilion at the International Press Exhibition, Cologne) Cover
    1930 Russland: Die Rekonstruktion der Architektur in der Sowjetunion
   (Russia: The reconstruction of architecture in the Soviet Union) Front
                              cover Back cover
        1935 Industriia sotsializma: Tiazhelaia promyshlennost k VII
    Vsesoiuznomu Sezdu Sovetov (Industry of socialism: Heavy industry for
                   the Seventh Congress of Soviets) Cover
   Advertisement design 1924 Advertisement for Pelican Drawing Ink Design
     Wood-panel advertising relief for Pelikan typewriter ribbons Design
              1925 Advertisement for Pelican Drawing Ink Design
                  Photography 1925 Self-portraits 1924 1925
                    Photomontage of Kurt Schwitters Image
                        1928 Runner in the City Image
    1929 Exhibition catalog for Iaponskoe kino: Vystavka (Japanese cinema
                              exhibition) Cover
       1930 Montage of workers and smokestacks, for USSR im bau Image
          Architecture 1925 Photomontage of The Wolkenbügel Image
         3D computer rendering of The Wolkenbügel MPEG-1 - 13.25 M
                 Aerial drawing of The Wolkenbügel Drawing
     1928 Design for a flag stand, Soviet Pavilion, International Press
                             Exhibition Drawing
              1930 Model for the House of Heavy Industry Image
   Exhibitions 1926 Photograph of section of Raum Konstruktive Kunst (Room
    for Constructivist art), International Art Exhibition, Dresden Image
     c.1927 Design for the Abstraktes Kabinett (Abstract Cabinet) Design
     1928 Photo of Soviet Pavilion, International Press Exhibition Image
   Photo of "The Iron Man,"Soviet Pavilion, International Press Exhibition
                                    Image
    Photo of display of Soviet newspapers, Soviet Pavilion, International
                           Press Exhibition Image
        1929 Design of the Soviet Room, International Film and Photo
                   Exhibition, Stuttgart Sketch1 Sketch 2
   Personal Letters 1924 Letter to Sophie Küppers regarding Die Kunstismen
                                   Letter
     1925 Letter to Sophie Küppers regarding the Reklamrelief (Pelikan
                               relief) Letter
     1935 Letter to Sophie Küppers regarding stay in Switzerland Letter
     Source: Works by El Lissitzky (2001). Retrieved March 20, 2005. —
       Source: Monuments of the Future: Designs by El Lissitzky (2002)
   Retrieved March 20, 2005 — Source: El Lissitzky (2002) Retrieved March
                                  28, 2005

            See Category:Artwork by El Lissitzky for other media

   Large amounts of his work are on permanent display in galleries
   worldwide. Much of his collection of Proun works can be viewed in the
   Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands, with other abstract works on display
   in Sprengel Museum in Hannover. His work is also part of the Peggy
   Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

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