El Lissitzky
PRO DVA KVADRATA. SUPREMATICHESKII SKAZ V 6-TI POSTROIKAKH (ABOUT TWO SQUARES: A SUPREMATIST TALE OF TWO SQUARES IN SIX CONSTRUCTIONS)
1922
Illustrated book with seven letterpress illustrations (including cover)
Not on view
About Two Squares is a children’s book about a black square and a red square that fly to earth from afar. For Lissitzky they symbolized the superiority of the new Soviet order (the red square) over the old (the black square). The artist’s abstract style was profoundly influenced by Kazimir Malevich's Suprematism, but after 1921 he aligned himself with Russian Constructivist principles and sought to move Suprematism’s abstract language into the service of the new social and political order.
Geo/Metric: Prints and Drawings from the Collection, June 11–August 18, 2008.
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Letterpress
A relief printing technique for printing text and other images that are outlined and mechanically cut from metal or wood. The raised surface is inked and pressed onto paper by a printing press.
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