Bolshevik establishment during the latter stages of the Russian civil war. The product of his
work with the new regime is what we will be analysing next.
This painting is a work of propaganda created by Lissitzky to inspire the Red soldiers
of Bolshevik Russia to destroy the soldiers of White Russia. The work represents the
pinnacle of Suprematist design, using only the most basic of visuals to present its argument.
The white Russia is darkness, representing the oppression and backwardness of the Tzarist
regime of the past, only the red wedge can usher in the light of the future. The red wedge
drives forward in the poster, the white circle can only stand and be penetrated by it. The
bold use of colour informs this interpretation, the white circle is flanked by darkness, with
only the piercing of the red wedge forcing light into the right-hand side of the composition.
The iconography is obvious, immediately understandable to the poorly educated population
of Russia. The wedge has an almost explosive quality, as if the incomplete white circle is
popping under the pressure of the red wedge’s assault. The grey rectangles are floating
away from the larger triangle as if to imply that the final defence of the Whites has been
pierced.
There are very few words on the poster, yet they are utilized to draw the eye to
imply movement. Russian is read left to right, and the words move as if they are following
the trajectory of the red wedge’s movement in piercing the white circle. Smaller, th inner
triangles are entering the space that the wedge has forced open. Lissitzky was a hugely
influential artist in the post-war period. Russian schooling was reorganized after the
revolution and Lissitzky would teach in many positions after the revolution, even becoming
the cultural ambassador to Weimar Germany after the civil war had ended. 12 His work,
12 Tate, El Lissitzky 1890-1941 (2023), <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/el-lissitzky-1519> [accessed 7 January 2024] .
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