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Degree

MS ARCH, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art, & Planning : Architecture, 2002.

Abstract

The subject of this research is the Constructivist movement that appeared in Soviet Russia in the 1920s. I will pursue the investigation by analyzing the work of the architect Iakov Chernikhov. About fifty public and industrial developments were built according to his designs during the 1920s and 1930s across the USSR, although he is better known as a talented graphic artist, having created an endless number of such compositions. These include the series "Architectural Fantasies" and "Industrial Tales" which portray a utopian architecture for the future. His teaching programs cover several different fields from ornamentation to architecture and seven of his books, which he illustrated were published during the 1920s and 1950s. Since about 1970, the Constructivist movement has been thoroughly investigated; yet re-examination of Chernikhov's work remains relatively undiscussed, especially in Western scholarly literature. The aim of this research is to resituate Chernikhov both in his own context and in the contemporary theoretical production which is accompanying Russian society's return from collectivist values to individuality and self-expression. In particular the thesis focus on three major aspects of Iakov Chernikhov's teaching program: The first is an analysis of Chernikhov's non-objective approach towards design, which forms a foundation for teaching program, and assures its applicability to any subject-matter. The second is an examination of Chernikhov's approach toward modernity and tradition, since although he is considered within the modern movement of Constructivism, he did not reject tradition. The third aspect which will be examined here is the underlying importance that he attached to the individuality, self-expression and creative energy of the designer in executing the graphical exercises. This idea may partly explain why his works were criticized in the Soviet press for insufficient attention to the ideological socialist role. All these facets make his theories unique among his contemporaries and his fellow Constructivists.

Subject Headings

Architecture

Keywords

constructivism; Russian Architecture; Iakov Chernikhov; revolution; modernism

Advisor

Dr. John Eliot Hancock

Document number: ucin1029443033
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1029443033

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