Monday, December 18, 2006

El Lissitzky: Futurist Portfolios

October 14, 2006–January 21, 2007

I stopped by the Phillips Collection's new wing yesterday and was delighted by the synthesis of art, architecture and design in this exhibition. The walls are painted in the same modernist designs as El Lissitzky's prints, sometimes grabbing my attention more than the art on the walls. The overall feeling was that of art and architecture merging to define the space, a happy marriage and worth a visit.

"Nineteen prints by Russian artist El Lissitzky comprising two complete lithographic portfolios shown in conjunction with the Société Anonyme exhibition. Lissitzky (1890–1941), also an architect and theorist, created the Victory over the Sun portfolio as designs for a futurist opera, and the Proun portfolio ("Proun" is the Latin acronym for "design for the confirmation of the new") to embrace utopian ideals through the use of abstract architectural forms. A gallery room is designed as a Proun room to convey some of Lissitzky's concepts in three dimensions."

The Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009

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