Avant-garde architecture and art of the 1920s–1930s in Ukraine and European modernism: interpenetration methods

Svitlana Smolenska

doi:10.37190/arc190302

Abstract

The 1920s and 1930s were the period of unprecedented flowering of Ukrainian art and architecture. The Soviet avant-garde in Ukraine gained world recognition then. It developed in line with European modernism. In what ways did the intermingling of Western and Ukrainian culture take place in those years? The most important methods of interaction between the European and Ukrainian avant-garde are presented in the article: wide coverage of European achievements in the All-Union (USSR) and Ukrainian press; free access of Ukrainian architects and artists to foreign professional periodicals; participation of Ukrainian and European artists and architects in international exhibitions and competitions; direct involvement of renowned foreign architects in the work on projects on the territory of Ukraine. The main statements of the article are based on the analysis of publications in the avant-garde press of the 1920s–1930s, as well as on authentic materials from several Ukrainian archives.

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2019

3(59)

DOI: 10. /arc190302

Introduction

The Soviet avant-garde was the dominant trend in the

art and architecture of Ukraine in the 1920s–1930s. As an

independent Soviet republic at that time, which was part

of the USSR since 1922, Ukraine was a gigantic experi-

mental platform for implementing the most advanced and

grandiose modernist ideas. It took one of the key positions

in the process of industrialization of the USSR that began

in the 2

half of the 1920s. New cities and residential set-

tlements began to be erected in accordance with modern

principles here.

Cultural life ourished in booming industrial centers.

Kharkiv was the rst capital of the Soviet Ukrainian Re-

public then (1918–1934). There were 35 universities,

48 colleges, 80 research institutes, 13 museums, 62 clubs,

76 bookshops, two radio stations, 140 newspapers with

circulation of 1.5 million copies, 125 periodicals in circu-

lation of 1.5 million copies, etc. in Kharkiv at that time.

A new high-rise administrative center with an adjacent

multi-story residential area was built and dominated the

whole city, forming its new silhouette. The theatrical, art,

literary and architectural life reected innovative direc-

tions, coexistence and struggle of creative associations

and groups which were advocating different views on

modern art and architecture [1].

Svitlana Smolenska*

Avant-garde architecture and art of the 1920s–1930s in Ukraine

and European modernism: interpenetration methods

Architektura i sztuka w latach 1920–1930 na Ukrainie

a modernizm europejski: sposoby przenikania

* ORCID: 0000-0002-4953-9563. Kharkiv School of Architecture,

Ukraine.

Modernism in Ukraine and Europe developed in paral-

lel. Mutual enrichment with ideas, creative work methods,

and technical innovations took place thanks to close cul-

tural ties at various levels.

The research conducted by the author in recent years

has revealed several main methods of interaction between

the European and Ukrainian avant-garde. The most im-

portant of them are highlighted and represented in this

article:

1. Wide coverage of European achievements in the

elds of painting, graphics, sculpture, design, applied art,

architecture and town-planning in the All-Union (USSR)

and Ukrainian press. In turn, foreign publications reported

the best examples of the Soviet avant-garde.

2. Free access of Ukrainian architects and artists to for-

eign professional periodicals.

3. Participation of Ukrainian artists and architects in

European contests and international exhibitions of differ-

ent levels as well as the participation of foreigners in ex-

hibitions and competitions in Ukraine.

4. Direct involvement of renowned foreign architects

in the work on projects and their realizations on the terri-

tory of Ukraine and the USSR.

European art and architecture as represented

in Ukrainian art press

One of the most accessible ways to overcome state and

political borders between Ukraine and European countries

was the exchange of information in the press. An analy-

sis of the professional editions of that time testies to their

12 Svitlana Smolenska

openness to everything new that has appeared in Europe

and the world.

Practically all the leading journals in the 1920s and

1930s in the USSR published on their pages reviews of

foreign art and architectural exhibitions, articles prepared

by Western masters, or materials about their works. Some

of the foreigners were included in the editorial boards

of domestic editions. Usually both the table of contents

and illustration captions were published as bilingual:

Ukrainian (or Russian) and foreign (often, German). The

journal “Будівництво” (“Construction”, it began to be

published since 1929) chronicled signicant events in the

eld of architecture and construction abroad, published

reviews of foreign professional literature, as well as arti-

cles on the state of modern architecture in different coun-

tries in each issue. A list and a brief informative descrip-

tion of specialized foreign journals on construction and

architecture were presented in the journal “Строительная

промышленность” (“Construction Industry”) for 1926 in

the Bibliography section. The description of each publica-

tion was provided not only with useful information about

its subject matter, the availability and quality of illustra-

tions, but also about the cost of an annual subscription in

roubles. Therefore, everyone could subscribe journals in

any language: German, English, French, etc.

The German “Wasmuth’s Monats Hefte” was the most

popular journal among Soviet subscribers

because it was

picking up for its readers the latest news on advanced

phenomena in architecture not only in Germany, but also

in other countries, including Ukraine. The competition

project for the House of the Ukrainian SSR Government

in Kharkiv by architect Alexander Dmitriev was pre-

sented in the January issue of the monthly for 1926 [3,

p. 335].

“Нова Ґенерація”

– an example of

avant-garde Ukrainian art journal

One of the “leftist art journals”, as publishers posi-

tioned it, which actively promoted European avant-gar-

de art, literature and architecture, was “Нова Ґенерація”

(“New Generation”), published in the Ukrainian capital

from 1927 to 1930. The editorial board attracted the par-

ticipation in each issue of famous European avant-gar-

de leaders from Berlin, Prague, Paris, among which

were: Johannes Becher, László Moholy-Nagy, Herwarth

Walden, Enrico Prampolini and others. On the covers of

many issues there were vivid innovative examples of the

modern foreign avant-garde, articles and reviews were

devoted to them. The new modern Ukrainian art was

demonstrated and promoted along with them. Readers

had the opportunity to compare the work of foreign and

domestic masters, and the authors themselves – to learn

from each other, to compete in achieving the highest re-

sults in their eld. Pictures of the Ukrainian avant-garde

artist Anatol Petritsky were shown alongside the latest

artworks by Pablo Picasso (No. 3, 1927). Modern the-

ater German School, represented by Oscar Schlemmer

from Bauhaus (Dessau) was presented in No. 1, 1927

[4]. Schlemmer was well-known for his Triadic Ballet

(“Triadisches Ballett”, 1922) where the performers were

transformed into geometrical gurines. The costumes he

designed were extraordinary and were based on cylinder,

sphere, cone, and spiral shapes (Fig. 1). Examples of con-

structivist experiments in scenography of Ukrainian artist

Vadim Meller for the theater “Berezil” were shown in the

following issues [5] (Fig. 2).

To see how much attention was paid to European in-

novations, it’s enough to familiarize yourself with the

content of one of the numbers of the “New Generation”

(No. 2, 1927), where, along with the Ukrainian avant-gar-

de, you could nd:

– Poem by the Polish poet Julian Tuwim (translated

into Ukrainian).

– Article about the exhibition of housing in Stuttgart.

For us in the USSR, the German technical press has always been

closer, both due to popularity of the language, and closer technical and

industrial contact with this country. The current search for new paths

also brings together some German architecture journals with ours,

which are emerging [2, p. 739].

Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic.

Fig. 1. Modern Theater School in Germany. Oscar Schlemmer.

Bauhaus. Dessau (source: [4])

Il. 1. Nowoczesna szkoła teatralna w Niemczech. Oscar Schlemmer.

Bauhaus. Dessau (źródło: [4])

Avant-gardearchitectureandartofthe1920s–1930sinUkraine /Architektura i sztuka w latach 1920–1930 na Ukrainie 13

– Review “Modern Psychological Germany”, where

a critical analysis of trends in German philosophy and

lite rature was given.

– Opinion of German authors on contemporary paint-

ing in the USSR.

– A leftist action in modern Polish literature.

“Stuttgart Residential Exhibition” was noted in the an-

nouncement of the article as “the most interesting phe-

nomenon of modern life abroad”, as the achievements

presented at the exhibition […] introduce us to a circle

of interests that are close to us in terms of new direc-

tions in architecture and their interrelation with the con-

struction of cities and villages, in which the work of Soviet

left architects and advanced engineers is also progress-

ing [6, p. 4]. Photos of architectural projects from the Art

and Industrial Exhibition in Kharkiv, which was held at

that time in the capital of Ukraine, were published in the

same issue next to the illustrations from Stuttgart (Fig. 3).

Ukrainian artists and architects

at international fairs/exhibitions

The participation of Ukrainian artists in international

exhibitions of various levels held both in the USSR and

abroad, played a signicant role in the exchange of infor-

mation and the demonstration of their own capabilities.

Ukrainian architectural schools from the Kiev Art Insti-

tute and the Odessa Polytechnic Institute were presented

at the First Exhibition of “Contemporary Architecture” in

Moscow in 1927 along with the German Bauhaus, Mos-

cow and Leningrad architectural universities [7]. An im-

pressive list of names of participants – famous architects

from Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Dessau, Prague,

Brno, Warsaw, Utrecht, Rotterdam and other European

cities can be found on the poster of the Exhibition, which

was made by Russian constructivist Alexei Gan (Fig. 4).

At the “Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs”

in Paris in 1925, the graphic artist, poster designer and

sculptor Adolf Strakhov from Kharkiv gained internation-

al fame and was awarded the gold medal for the poster

“V. Uljanov (Lenin)/1924–1934” [8, p. 214]. Later, in 1927

he showed his constructivist posters in Vienna, Berlin

and Hamburg. Vadim Meller was awarded the prize at the

Paris exhibition in 1925 also for the design of the play in

the theater “Berezil” [9].

In 1928, Meller participated in the International Press

Exhibition in Cologne, together with other Ukrainian

artists such as Vasil Yermilov. Yermilov was one of the

leaders of the Ukrainian avant-garde. He worked in many

genres: easel painting (portrait, landscape), book graph-

ics, street furniture design (projects of news-stands, street

propaganda advertising stands, etc.), industrial graphics,

interior of public buildings, poster design. In the 1920s,

in his “constructivist” period, he carried out sketches for

the painting of agitation trains, invented his “Ermilov-

ski” font, constantly experimented with various materials:

Fig. 2. Theater “Berezil”,

directed by Les Kurbas.

Artist Vadim Meller.

Dance of numbers, 1927

(source: [5])

Il. 2. Teatr “Berezil”

kierowany przez Łesia Kurbasa.

Artysta Vadim Meller.

Taniec liczb, 1927 (źródło: [5])

Fig. 3. Project of the House of Government of the Ukrainian SSR.

Anniversary exhibition in the House of State Industry.

Department of architecture, 1927 (source: [6])

Il. 3. Projekt siedziby Ukraińskiej SSR.

Rocznica wystawy w Domu Przemysłu Państwowego.

Dział architektury, 1927 (źródło: [6])

14 Svitlana Smolenska

wood, metal, fabric, creating relief compositions. Vale-

rian Polishchuk, a writer, founder of the modernist group

“Avangard” in Kharkiv, wrote about his friend-artist in

that time: Yermilov… lends his hand to those left-wing art-

ists of Western Europe and Russia, who also managed to

timely transfer to spatial art the laws of industrial beau-

ty… This line of constructive art brilliantly embodied in

European architecture and in the Soviet theatrical design

(our “House of Industry” is also a work of this trend). In

the meantime, it has captured all other branches of ar-

tistic life. Entire art complexes like Bauhaus in Germa-

ny, Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Gan in Russia (especially their

workintheeldofbooks)appeared.Manifestationsof

thistrendarenoticeableinPoland(“Dźwignia”),inthe

Czech Republic (Teige), in the Netherlands and in other

industrialized or industrially developing countries of the

world. Ukraine, represented by Yermilov, also gave a very

bright artistic unit in this growth from the industrial life of

constructive forms of spatial (visual) art [10, p. 62]. Par-

ticipation in the international fair in Leipzig earned him

(and a group of teachers and students from the Kharkiv

Art Technical School) the Gold Medal “for graphic work”

at the art stamp competition on the relief of the hungry,

which was held during the exhibition [10, pp. 15, 529].

Designing the Ukrainian section of the Soviet pavilion

for the Cologne exhibition in 1928, he completed the

stands of the two factory wall newspapers, “Generator”

and “Kanatka”, and prepared a series of 20 large albums

“Ukraine” [11, p. 154]. He used different materials: fab-

ric, leather, wood, metal for album covers (Fig. 5).

Ukrainian constructivist architects also presented their

best projects at international and world exhibitions in the

1920s and 1930s. Two colorful perspectives were found in

the archive [12] and identied by the author of this article

as a project of a sports complex for 80,000 spectators in

Kharkiv. This architectural graphic was supposedly pre-

pared for the World Exhibition in Paris (Exposition In-

ternationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Mo derne,

1937) and was entitled in French. Architect Nikolay

Zvegilsky was the author of the project of the sports com-

plex. However, two perspectives of the future grand struc-

ture were made by the architect-artist Veniamin Kostenko,

who perfectly mastered the architectural and graphic art.

Therefore, he was tasked to prepare materials for the over-

seas exhibition (Fig. 6) [13].

International competitions

in Ukraine and abroad

International contests played an important role in the

interpenetration of advanced ideas. “Competition is the

most perfect method of obtaining a project, because com-

petition always and everywhere was a powerful incentive

to creativity” as stated in the journal “Construction Industry”

Fig. 4. Poster from the First Exhibition of “Contemporary Architecture”

(author: A. Gan, 1927) (source: [7])

Il. 4. Plakat pierwszej wystawy „Współczesnej architektury”

(autor: A. Gan, 1927) (źródło: [7])

Fig. 5. The cover of the album Ukraine. Collectivization.

Fabric, leather, metal, paper (author: V. Yermilov, 1928)

(from the Funds of the Kharkiv State

Scientific Library of V.G. Korolenko)

(photo by S. Smolenska, 2019)

Il. 5. Okładka albumu Ukraina. Kolektywizacja.

Tkanina, skóra, metal, papier (autor: V. Yermilov, 1928)

(z funduszy Kharkiv State Scientific Library of V.G. Korolenko)

(fot. S. Smolenska, 2019)

Avant-gardearchitectureandartofthe1920s–1930sinUkraine /Architektura i sztuka w latach 1920–1930 na Ukrainie 15

in 1926 [14, p. 140]. Such an understanding of the signi-

cance of the competitions was completely in line with the

spirit of time. For many talented architects and artists, the

competition was a chance to reveal their creative potential,

to demonstrate their professional abilities.

The competition for the project of the Kharkiv Theater

of Mass Musical Action for 4000 seats (1930) was a bright

event in the architectural life of Ukraine and aroused great

interest all over the world. The competition program in

5 languages: Ukrainian, Russian, German, English and

French was designed in an avant-garde manner by artist

A. Strakhov. 144 projects were submitted under the mot-

tos (without specifying the authors), 100 of them were

sent from abroad: Germany, France, USA, Japan and oth-

er countries. The jury awarded 12 best works with prizes.

Among the authors, along with Ukrainian and Russian

architects, were: American architects Alfred Kastner

and Norman Bel Geddes, Japanese architect Renshichiro

Kawakita, leader of European modernism Walter Gropius,

and others (Fig. 7) [15].

In turn, Ukrainian architects took part in international

foreign competitions, for example, architects A. Kasyanov

and Afanasyev – in the competition for Columbus mon-

ument in San Domingo in 1929, architects A. Einhorn,

A. Kasyanov and V. Andreev – in the competition for the

redevelopment project of the Stockholm Center in 1933

(Fig. 8) [16].

Foreign architects-modernists in Ukraine

Foreign experts visited Ukraine in those years: they

held lectures, consultations, became acquainted with

our achievements. They were fascinated by the high

rates of industrialization of the Ukrainian Soviet Repub-

lic, the active construction of new cities, revolutionary

transformations in art and architecture which started at

that time.

With the beginning of industrialization in the USSR,

adopted in 1925, the issue of developing housing-type

projects for standardized industrial housing construction

became especially acute. Strategists of Soviet industri-

alization were interested in attracting foreign experts to

solve the housing problem. The European experience of

social housing projects, in particular in the Weimar Repub-

lic, was repeatedly studied by Soviet delegations during

the 1920s [17, p. 161]. Many leading Western architects

of the modern movement, for their part, inspired by large-

scale transformations in the social, architectural and artistic

spheres in the USSR, hoped to realize their boldest original

ideas here. They took a direct part in the planning of new

cities and the design of new housing estates and public

buildings for the Soviet Union and including Ukraine. The

importance of the presence of foreign – particularly Ger-

man – architects and quite a large number of them in the

USSR in the early 1930s is emphasized in some studies

For example, Ernst May, who was known as one of

the leaders in mass housing, a specialist in the develop-

ment of low-cost housing for workers, was invited by the

Soviet government for a lecture tour

(on the subject of

[…] the Section of Foreign Architects within the Union of So viet

Architects [Obshchestvo sovetskikh arkhitektorov] between 1933 and

1936 comprised between 800 and 1000 members despite the fact that not

every foreign architect was a member [of the Union]. It is characteristic

that about half of them were Germans [18].

Ernst May’s lecture tour in May 1930 included the main cities of

the Soviet Union: Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and Kharkiv

[19, p. 135].

Fig. 6. Project of

a sports complex for 80,000

spectators in Kharkiv

(arch. N. Zvegilsky, early 1930s).

One of the colorful perspectives

by the architect-artist

V. Kostenko, 1937 [12]

(photo by S. Smolenska, 2012)

Il. 6. Projekt kompleksu

sportowego dla 80 tysięcy

widzów w Charkowie

(arch. N. Zvegilsky,

wczesne lata 30. XX w.).

Jedna z perspektyw architekta-

-artysty V. Kostenki, 1937 [12]

(fot. S. Smolenska, 2012)

16 Svitlana Smolenska

“The New City”, the “Status of Housing in Germany” and

the “Rationalisation of Housing Construction” [17]). He

visited Kharkiv in May 1930 during his tour. In addition to

lectures, he advised projects of new “socialist cities” that

were being built then in Ukraine: “Great Zaporizhzhe” and

“New Kharkiv” [19, p. 135]. He and his so-called “May’s

Brigade” were invited to work in the USSR. Many archi-

tects from his Frankfurt team were recruited and arrived

in Oktober 1930 (it amounted to a task force of 17 people

then, some foreign experts joined “May’s Brigade” after

Fig. 8. Project for the redevelopment of the Stockholm Center. Perspective (arch. A. Einhorn, A. Kasyanov and V. Andreev, 1933) (source: [16])

Il. 8. Projekt przebudowy centrum Sztokholmu. Perspektywa (arch. A. Einhorn, A. Kasyanov i V. Andreev, 1933) (źródło: [16])

Fig. 7. The project of the Kharkiv Theater of Mass Musical Action for 4000 seats. Section (arch. A. Kastner, USA, 1930) (source: [15])

Il. 7. Projekt Charkowskiego Teatru Masowej Akcji Muzycznej na 4000 miejsc. Przekrój (arch. A. Kastner, USA, 1930) (źródło: [15])

Avant-gardearchitectureandartofthe1920s–1930sinUkraine /Architektura i sztuka w latach 1920–1930 na Ukrainie 17

1930). It was German, Austrian, Dutch and Swiss archi-

tects and engineers (Dutch Mart Stam, Austrian Margarete

Schütte-Lihotzky etc.; a list of their names was given in

a study by T. Flierl [17, p. 191]). They were specialists in

different areas of urban planning and architecture, which

could solve the whole range of issues in planning new cit-

ies and designing new types of buildings. The May’s Bri-

gade developed the master plan of the “socialist city” Ma-

keevka [20, p. 6, 7] for workers and miners in the Donbass

region of Ukraine, where Mart Stam applied the principle

of row housing and an expanded residential quarter with

all types of social and consumer services (Fig. 9).

Historical distance allows us, without prejudice inher-

ent in previous periods, to discern many common features

in the work of Western and domestic pioneers of contem-

porary art. Despite geographic boundaries and ideological

and political differences between states, “parallel” devel-

opment of professional thinking was fuelled by interpen-

etration of ideas, the availability of information about the

most progressive trends and achievements in the eld of

architecture, art, design, which was based on the support

of mutual contacts. Openness to the world and, in this

sense, the democratic nature of the professional architec-

tural and artistic community in the rst decades after the

revolution, the desire to absorb cutting-edge ideas and de-

velopments, the thirst for knowledge of the best that was

already created in theory and practice, contributed to the

birth in the 1920–1930s of the new modern avant-garde

art and architecture in the fertile Ukrainian ground.

Translated by

Svitlana Smolenska

Fig. 9. The prospect of a quarter-complex in Makeevka

(arch. M. Stam, early 1930s) (source: [20])

Il. 9. Widok kwartału kompleksu w Makiejewce

(arch. M. Stam, wczesne lata 30. XX w.) (źródło: [20])

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Abstract

The 1920s and 1930s were the period of unprecedented owering of Ukrainian art and architecture. The Soviet avant-garde in Ukraine gained world

recognition then. It developed in line with European modernism. In what ways did the intermingling of Western and Ukrainian culture take place in

those years? The most important methods of interaction between the European and Ukrainian avant-garde are presented in the article: wide coverage

of European achievements in the All-Union (USSR) and Ukrainian press; free access of Ukrainian architects and artists to foreign professional perio-

dicals; participation of Ukrainian and European artists and architects in international exhibitions and competitions; direct involvement of renowned

foreign architects in the work on projects on the territory of Ukraine.

The main statements of the article are based on the analysis of publications in the avant-garde press of the 1920s–1930s, as well as on authentic

materials from several Ukrainian archives.

Key words: modernism, avant-garde, Ukraine, interpenetration of ideas

18 Svitlana Smolenska

Streszczenie

Lata 20. i 30. XX w. były okresem niezwykłego rozkwitu sztuki i architektury ukraińskiej. Sowiecka awangarda na Ukrainie zyskała światowe

uznanie. Rozwijała się razem z europejskim modernizmem. W jaki sposób przeplatały się kultura zachodnia i ukraińska w owych latach? W artykule

przedstawiono najważniejsze metody interakcji między awangardą europejską i ukraińską: szerokie ujęcie osiągnięć w ZSSR i prasie ukraińskiej,

wolny dostęp architektów i artystów ukraińskich do profesjonalnych czasopism zagranicznych, udział ukraińskich i europejskich artystów i ar-

chitektów w międzynarodowych wystawach i konkursach, bezpośrednie zaangażowanie znanych zagranicznych architektów w prace nad projektami

na terytorium Ukrainy. Główne twierdzenia w artykule są oparte zarówno na analizie publikacji w prasie z lat 1920–1930, jak i na autentycznych

materiałach z kilku ukraińskich archiwów.

Słowa kluczowe: modernizm, awangarda, Ukraina, przenikanie się idei