Constructivism Photographers

Aleksandr Rodchenko

The historical constructivism photographer that ive decided to research further is Aleksandr Rodchenko. Rodchenko was born during December 1981 and also died during December 1956.  He was a well-known Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer. Interestingly, he was one of the founders of construcivism and Russian Design. However, as i am researching photographers i am more interested within this photograph research. Rodchenko’s photography was socially engaged, formally inactive and opposed to a painterly aesthetic. His photography mainly includes a series of documentary photo shots, these shots are made up of odd angles; usually high above or down below. Aleksandr was born in St Petersburg to a working-class family. Rodchenko decided to become an artist without having much knowledge within the art world and just had inspiration from art magazines.  During 1914 Rodchenko continued his training in Moscow and this is where he created his first abstract drawing; he was influenced by Kazimir Malevich during 1915.

The first image of Aleksandr Rodchenko that i am going to analyse is the image above. The first thing which draws the audiences eye towards this image is the ladder throughout the middle of the image which acts as lead in lines; leading towards the man stood on the ladder covering nearly two thirds of the image. One way to interpret this image would be that he is cleaning the windows either side of the ladder. However, another way to analyse the image would be that he is just using the ladder to get somewhere. Overall, i really like this image because of the contrast of shades and tones throughout the image. Rodchenko has used this famous technique of using specific angles; within this image he focuses on an extremely l0w angle to capture all of the building within the photo to make it more appealing.

Interestingly, this photo contrasts with the previous one as it is taken from an extremely high building looking down onto the town to capture the motion and event. Throughout the middle of the photograph is a pathway which acts as lead in lines. This is similar to the previous image as Aleksandr Rodchenko as he uses this technique to draw the viewers eye to the main focal point of this image which is what looks like a march or parade with a group of women. On both sides of the street there is tall buildings which has people looking over the balcony at the event on the street. Rodchenko has used an angle from up high to create a story along with the photograph as it allows you to work out everything that is happening.

Andreas Gursky

The contemporary photographer that i decided to research is called Andreas Gursky as he was born during January 1955 and is still alive. Gursky was born into a German family in Leipzig, then at the end of 1957 moved to West GErmany to start his education which developed into his career. During his education he had critical training and was highly influenced from his teachers to follow what he wanted to do. Gursky demonstrates large scale photography approach within his photography work; he was highly influenced by the photographic team within his education.

This image of Andreas Gursky caught my eye when i first researched him further. There is a lot of repetitiveness throughout the whole photograph; towards the bottom of the image there is a lot more colour within the balcony as your eyes follow the rest of the image up you can see that there is less colour. Interestingly, this links to the previous artist because from a personal interpretation i think this acts as lead in lines. If somebody that didn’t do art and design they would interpret this image in a completely different way because it is extremely basic and included light based colours so it all links. Personally, i don’t think that i would use this technique because it doesn’t interest me.