2018.18
Proun 2B
Artist
El Lissitzky (Lazar Markovich Lissitzky)
(Pochinok, Pochinkovsky District, Smolensk Oblast, Russia, 11/23/1890 - 12/30/1941, Moscow, Russua)
Title
Proun 2B
Creation Date
1921
Century
early 20th century
Dimensions
8 1/16 x 10 7/16 in. (20.48 x 26.51 cm)
Object Type
print
Creation Place
Asia, Russia
Medium and Support
lithograph on velin paper
Credit Line
Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
2018.18
Created in the wake of Russian Revolution of 1917, which overthrew the nation’s imperial government in favor of rule by the people, El Lissitzky’s abstract composition demonstrates the artist’s desire to apply groundbreaking utopian aspirations to art making. The word “Proun” is an acronym signifying, in Russian, “Project for the Affirmation of the New.” This work, part of a portfolio of “Proun” lithographs, affirms the artist’s dedication to a non-objective art evocative of new methods of understanding materiality, space, and the creative process itself.
Object Description
Per Alice Adam, Ltd. (March 2018):
Plate 22 from the Proun portfolio
The first Proun portfolio, Moscow 1919, was never published and exists in proofs only.
Mrs. Gmurzynska visited Ms. El Lissitzky in Siberia where they had been place by the government. That is where the image is from.