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Vladimir
Evgrafovich Tatlin

Russia • 1885−1953

Biography and information

Tatlin Vladimir Evgrafovich (December 28, 1885 - May 31, 1953, Moscow) - Russian painter, graphic artist, designer, theater artist, author of utopian architectural projects, innovator of Russian avant-garde, constructivist.

Features of the artist Vladimir Tatlin: Tatlin was one of the pioneers of the Russian avant-garde, focusing on the material, volume and design of the artistic work. He remained in history as the creator "Monument III International"The rotating functional premises of glass and metal: cube, cylinder, pyramid and hemisphere were to be placed inside the supporting structure of which. The openwork design of the Tatlin Tower has become the hallmark of constructivism, one of the most important symbols of the new Russian art. She created a sensation at the World Art Exhibition in Paris (1925), but the project of the 400-meter building was never realized.

Famous works of the artist Vladimir Tatlin: "Tatlin Tower", or “Monument to the III International”, "Sailor. Self Portrait, model of the aircraft "Letalin".

The artist's father, hereditary nobleman Yevgraf Nikiforovich Tatlin, was a railway engineer. Mother, poetess Nadezhda Nikolaevna Bart, died early - the boy was only 11 years old. The family moved to Kharkov, the father soon married the second time. Vladimir entered the Kharkiv Real School, where his art teacher was an academic artist Dmitry Beperchy. Three years later, the boy, due to constant conflicts with his stepmother, ran away from home and went "to the south", to Odessa. He became a cabin boy, spent several years at sea, but his love for drawing won: in 1902, Tatlin came to Moscow and entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He didn’t have enough for a long time: the young man was expelled “for poor progress and“ disapproving behavior ”. Then Tatlin made another attempt to link life and fate with the sea - he entered the Odessa School of Merchant Shipping. And again, the desire to become an artist prevailed: in 1905, Tatlin went to Penza and entered the Art School, where he studied for five years. His teachers were Alexander Vakhrameev and the beloved Tatlin. Alexey Afanasyev.

Tatlin began to exhibit since 1909, participated in the salons of the Moscow magazine "Golden Fleece". In 1910 he received a diploma in draftsman, and in the same year he met with Mikhail Larionov, who introduced Tatlin with avant-garde currents. Soon, the creative views of artists diverged, but both remained in line with the "new art". Tatlin exhibited a great deal, was fascinated with theatrical productions - in particular, he created sketches of costumes and scenery for Mikhail Glinka's opera “Life for the Tsar”. In 1912, the artist took part in the 3rd exhibition of the Union of Youth in St. Petersburg, in Moscow - in expositions"Jack of Diamonds" and "Donkey's Tail".

In 1914, Tatlin, as a bandurist musician, took part in the Russian exhibition of handicrafts in Berlin, after he went to Paris, where he visited the workshop Pablo Picasso. A year later, he put his brainchild at the Last Futuristic Exhibition "0.10" - the so-called "material rebounds", which he later called "counter-reliefs" - spatial structures created from various materials. Developing a new direction, Tatlin introduced his own terms describing his work - “tension” and “tension” of the structure, demanding from the viewer “to put the eye under the control of touch”.

In 1916, the artist met Velimir Khlebnikov, who dedicated the poem “Tatlin the Seerboy of the Blades” to him, was friends withbrothers Burliuks and Vladimir Mayakovsky.

The revolution, Vladimir Tatlin took the full. He headed the Moscow Art Collegium of the Izo NKP Department, worked at the Commission for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquities, later headed art workshops at the GSKhM, created a number of works that were acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum.

Having moved to Petrograd in 1919, Tatlin headed the workshop for material, volume and construction at Petrograd State Agricultural Institute. At the same time, he began to implement his famous project -"Monument III International". An innovative model, solved in the spirit of constructivism, was presented to the public at the end of 1920. Unprecedented design was perceived ambiguously. The project remained unfulfilled, as did the aircraft designed by Tatlin in 1929-1932.

In 1925, Vladimir Tatlin was given the title of professor, the artist taught at the Kiev Art Institute, in 1927–1930 - at VHUTEMAS, received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. “A thing must be durable, useful and beautiful,” proclaims Tatlin; he develops a coat model for the Leningrad clothes trust, creates the famous Tatlin chair, which is included in all the textbooks on furniture design.

In 1933, Tatlin met a young talented artistAlexandra Nikolaevna Korsakova-Rudovich (1909 - 1990), who became his official wife.

After the failure of the “Letatlin” project, the artist, disappointed in the subject art, returned to painting, devoted the next decade to scenography and book illustration. Theater Tatlin loved as passionately as the sea. Back in 1923 he staged a play “Zangezi” based on the work of Velimir Khlebnikov, in which he also performed as a set designer and reader. During the war, Tatlin lived in Moscow, designed performances, to his credit more than 25 productions.

In the postwar years, the artist was criticized for formalism. In the 1950s, Vladimir Evgrafovich worked in a workshop engaged in decorating the building of Moscow State University and making visual aids. The artist did not become in 1953.