Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography

Nare Aleksanyan 1

One of the great photographers who passionately believed in the photographic medium as

a form of art was Aleksandr Rodchenko. The Russian photographer from the early twentieth

century was one of the most influential figures in the history of photography. A closer look at

Rodchenkos theory of art and photography will provide a thorough understanding of his

ideology in regards to photography as an art form which I will discuss in the context of art in

photography. This will place photography in dialogue with the conventional arts defined in terms

of aesthetics of form and composition. Arthur Danto argues that the visible differences in a work

of art constitute an inescapability of aesthetics in experiencing it.1 In photographs, especially in

those of Rodchenko, light and composition are the two main formal qualities that prompt such

aesthetic awareness.

Figure 1Fire-escape, from the series House on Myasnitskaya

Gelatine silver print, 32x24
1925
Aleksandr Rodchenko ,
Private collection

1 Danto, Arthur. The Future of Aesthetics in Francis Halsall et al. Rediscovering

Aesthetics. (p.113).
Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 2

Sviblova, Olga et al. Aleksandr Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography. Moscow:

Multimedia Complex of Actual Arts, Moscow House of Photography Museum, 2008
Living in Russia, Rodchenko, and many of his contemporaries, rejected the traditions of

representational painting for the new visual language of abstraction.2 Rodchenko believed in

forms which could be perceived as objective and precise to be the most appropriate bases for

visual statements. It is worthy to note that before he turned to photography Rodchenko was a

painter. He began to photograph in the early 1920s during the period of the New Economic

Policy in Russia, at which time he had abandoned painting and focused on design. Rodchenko

was a part of the artistic-social avant-garde movement and one of the most prominent Russian

Constructivists.3 He was a proponent of a revolutionary art practice that would abandon the art of

the past in favor of an art that would express the conviction of form that he had. Forms in art

would become the signifiers of a new vision for the Constructivists. As an active photographer

from 1924 to 1954, Rodchenko experimented with photomontage, portrait photography, photo-

art and photo reportage. It was mainly the Russian Revolution that energized him to experiment

with photography in an attempt to expand his sphere of social influence while at the same time

gaining respect for the medium. He would do so through his carefully constructed compositions.

Rodchenkos photographic compositions were a way of discovering new visual

opportunities which would then expand the limits of photography as an art form.4 He

intentionally stressed perspective and depth by choosing angles that did not reproduce the texture

or compositional scheme of painting. Rodchenko insisted that there were artistic qualities that

2 Ibid.

3 Margolin, Victor. The Struggle for Utopia. (p.3).

4 Lavrentiev, Alexander. Alexander Rodchenko: Beginnings of the Photo Avant-

Garde in Russia in Sviblova, Olga et al. Aleksandr Rodchenko: Revolution in
Photography. (p.204).
Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 3

were specific to photography. For instance, in his diary Rodchenko writes of viewpoints not

possible in drawing or painting those with exaggerated foreshortenings and pitiless texture of

the materialthe unprecedented moments of movement, people, animals, cars5 It follows that

the selection of an interesting and original viewpoint in order to create a successful composition

is of great interest for the photographer. It is only necessary to remind ourselves of the

importance of a viewpoint in traditional picture-making to draw a parallel between these images

as forms of art. In addition, Rodchenko characterizes some qualities of photography as equally

complex as those of fine drawing. He is referring to the contrasts of perspectives, the contrasts

of light, and the contrasts of form.6 The importance of composition cannot be overstated in the

case of Rodchenko, who describes the ability of photographic compositions loaded with forms

and intricate patterns as surpassing the imagination of painters.7 The formal qualities of a picture

are prioritized by the photographer, and it is precisely such features that make up a work of art in

aesthetic terms mentioned earlier in reference to Danto.

Rodchenkos main goal was for photography to be recognized as an art form the art of

his time. He believed photography had the possibility to create a truly contemporary art.8 In fact,

he abandoned pure art in favor of photography because he saw in it the visual language that

could address a mass audience so crucial to the political climate he was living in. This was

critical for Rodchenko because in his utopian Constructivist thinking, he believed with a new
5 Rodchenko, Alexander. Photography is an Art in Sviblova, Olga et al. Aleksandr
Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography. (p.10).

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Lavrentiev, Alexander. Photography is an Art in Sviblova, Olga et al. Aleksandr

Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography. (p.204).
Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 4

form of art he could help transfigure the world and mankind.9 Therefore, he applied a new social

role to photography in the newly forming Soviet government. By documenting the social and

political life of the Soviet Union through photography, Rodchenko fulfilled the potential of the

medium as the art appropriate for his day.

Figure 2Fire-escape, from the series House on Myasnitskaya

Gelatine silver print, 41x30.3
1925
Aleksandr Rodchenko
Moscow House of Photography Museum
www.mdf.ru

It is necessary to consider how Rodchenkos photographs came to be in the context of the

political situation he was living in and in relation to his own utopian ideas. The photographs

Rodchenko took of his apartment building on Myasnicka Street do not seem to be politically

charged images at first. The photographer visually transformed his own surroundings through a

creative act by choosing to photograph where he lived; Victor Margolin argues that for

Rodchenko this was precisely the quality which characterized an active citizen of a post-

9 Sviblova, Olga et al. Aleksandr Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography. (p.7).

Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 5

revolutionary culture.10 This act of transformation was an integral part of Rodchenkos

Constructivist utopian ideology. Therefore, the series of photographs he took of his apartment

building demonstrate his post-revolutionary and utopian thinking as implemented by

photography.

The introduction of Conceptual art into photography was one of the many contributions

Rodchenko brought to photography. One of the most characteristic qualities of Rodchenkos

photographs is his use of acute camera angles. It is precisely the influence of Conceptualism that

is visible in his low angle shots of the fire-escape photographs from the series House on

Myasnitskaya of 1925. While the photographs I have chosen to discuss are all low angle shots,

there is a wide variety of low and high angle shots in Rodchenkos oeuvre. For the purposes of

this paper, however, a consistency in the viewpoint will demonstrate the photographers

command of composition and aesthetic understanding.

It is important to look at Figure 1 in relation to Figure 2 because the absence and the

presence of the male figure on the ladder accordingly is a crucial part of each composition.

Furthermore, while both are shot from the same place, the viewpoints are different. In Figure 1,

Rodchenko was facing the direction of the wall, while in Figure 2 he was facing in the direction

of the ladder. In both photographs, however, he makes the ladder the central motif of the

composition. In Figure 2, he even reinforces the compositional significance of the ladder in

relation to the human figure. Even though he is seen climbing up the ladder, and we see enough

detail to recognize him as a male, Rodchenkos choice of how much light he needs in the picture

to allow the viewer to a see a human form but not any specific details of it is a great example of

his Conceptual thinking.

10 Margolin, Victor. The Struggle for Utopia. (p.133).

Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 6

In other words, Rodchenko is more interested in capturing the form of the subject rather

than the details that are specific to it. In this, the photograph gains its significance, because the

male figure, having lost his individual characteristics, now signifies the human and not just one

specific individual. Furthermore, Rodchenko provides the form of the human figure in that

specific situation climbing the ladder. What is then the significance of the ladder in relation to

the generalized form of the human subject on it? It most certainly is a proof of Rodchenkos

sensibility to light, form and compositional construction, but more significantly, it is an image of

the post-revolutionary culture that has ushered in this new kind of seeing.

The idea of a new kind of seeing that came with the Soviet Union amounted to a

completely new society that in its visual culture would embrace the new government.

Rodchenko, as we have already seen, was a proponent of a utopian ideology. Thus, he embraced

the Soviet view of the new society and applied it to his photographic art. In Figure 1 and Figure

2 Rodchenko photographed an everyday object or scene in such a way that it showed the object

photographed - the ladder - from a completely new perspective. This perfectly embodied the

ideology of a new kind of seeing. The government wanted its people to adopt an art form that did

not represent anything but a new vision. This was at the heart of Conceptualism and Rodchenko

took it to photography because he believed that the medium even more so than Conceptualism in

painting embodied his contemporary world. Photography was for him the art of his time.

Holding his camera close to the walls of the 8-story structure of his apartment house,

Rodchenko shot in dramatically skewed perspective.11 Another example of this series is Figure 3.

Here the photographer has moved to the right side of the ladder and shot it in profile view as

opposed to the central viewpoints observed in Figures 1 and 2. The long narrow ladder of the

11 Dickerman, Leah Ann. Aleksandr Rodchenkos Camera-Eye. (p.136).

Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 7

fire escape, however, is here again the central motif of the composition. The measured intervals

of the ladders steps accentuate the serial repetition of the architectural forms the unadorned

brick construction of the walls, the windows, etc. Rodchenko uses these forms as a geometrical

basis for the composition of the photograph. The psychological response to the diagonal line of

the ladder resting against the brick wall is a clever pictorial composition which intrigues the

viewer on an aesthetic level. However, much like the first two photographs discussed previously

and others of the apartment building series not mentioned in this paper, Figure 3 also has a

political connotation. This underlying motif binds the scenes together. All these photographs

show the surroundings of the photographer prioritizing the building and the ladder the tangible

examples of post-revolutionary achievement.

Figure 3Fire-escape, from the series House on Myasnitskaya

Gelatine silver print, 41x30.3
1925
Aleksandr Rodchenko
Private collection
Sviblova, Olga et al. Aleksandr Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography.
Moscow: Multimedia Complex of Actual Arts, Moscow House of Photography
Museum, 2008
Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 8

Rodchenkos photographs of his apartment building are striking in the steep plunging and

spatial confusion caused by the cameras angled view. However, they are aesthetically appealing

not only because they show the building or the ladder from an unusual angle, but also, and most

importantly, because they work as pictures. The photographic arrangements of the ladder, the

building, and in the case of Figure 2 also the man climbing up the ladder, through the lens of the

camera and the choice of the lighting, are the products of carefully constructed compositions by a

great photographer. If the careful construction of a composition or an intellectual thinking

applied to the creation of a picture is what art is, then what Rodchenko wrote of photographers

should settle the debate on whether photography is art or not. He wrote that masters of

photography have individual taste, style, and manner; they have their own and particular themes

and subjects.12

Unlike the popular misconception that photographs are just snapshots that anyone can

take and therefore should not be considered a form of art, Aleksandr Rodchenkos photographs

show that in order to make a great photograph one must have knowledge of aesthetics, form, and

style. Photographs can be taken by anyone, and they most certainly are today, and this is

precisely why it is necessary to accept photography as an art. That way we can study the history

of photography and be able to recognize its contribution to the history of art in general.

Furthermore, by studying photography as part of the history of art we will be better equipped to

evaluate photographs much like we are in regards to works of the traditional media.

12 Rodchenko, Alexander. Photography is an Art in Sviblova, Olga et al. Aleksandr

Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography. (p.10).
Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 9

In conclusion, it is of crucial importance to advance art-historical discourse in the field of

photography to show its aesthetic quality as one compatible with the traditional arts. The brief

discussion of the three photographs by Aleksandr Rodchenko presented here was an attempt to

demonstrate the concept of art in photography. By studying the formal qualities of photographs

that differ considerably from those of the traditional media but which similarly stimulate an

aesthetic response, we can move on from the debate on the art of photography to a more fruitful

discussion of art in photography. I have tried to argue in this paper through a formalist approach

to the interpretation of Rodchenkos photographs that art in photography can be understood in

terms of formal qualities that provoke an aesthetic awareness in the beholder. While this

establishes photography as a form of art, it does not necessarily imply that the latter is the art of

photography. This takes me to the question that I want to leave the readers of this article with: Is

art in photography always the art of photography? Drawing a distinction between these two

concepts may lead us to a better understanding of the place of photography within the history of

art.
Aleksandr Rodchenko: Art in Photography
Nare Aleksanyan 10

Works Cited

Dickerman, Leah Ann. Aleksandr Rodchenkos Camera-Eye. Ann Arbor: UMI Company, 1997

Halsall, Francis et al. Rediscovering Aesthetics. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009

Margolin, Victor. The Struggle for Utopia. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997

Sviblova, Olga et al. Aleksandr Rodchenko: Revolution in Photography. Moscow: Multimedia

Complex of Actual Arts, Moscow House of Photography Museum, 2008