Title of Artwork: “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge”
Artwork by El Lissitzky
Year Created 1920
Summary of Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge
The Red Wedge, one of Lissitzky’s earliest attempts at propaganda art, is depicted in this painting. After the Bolsheviks waged their revolution in 1917, he produced this politically charged work in support of the Red Army. It was the revolutionaries’ goal to break through the anti-Communist White Army with the red wedge.
All About Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge
To emphasise the point made by the title, Lissitzky makes use of his well-known coded colour scheme of red, white, and black. Colors and shapes have a direct symbolic meaning.
As an example, the smooth, curvilinear walls of the white circle have been pierced by a sharp point: the Red Army has broken the White Army’s defences. Color contrasts can also lead to a lack of clarity in terms of where the positive and negative spaces are located. Which of these is the antithesis?
Geometric shapes in a limited colour palette float through the space, accompanied by text, like tiny projectiles. Painting and typography are fused in this piece, which combines the two art forms. Precursor to Lissitzky Prouns, when Suprematist art shifted to a three-dimensional medium.
Information Citations
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
