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Revolutionary Russia was arguably the most fertile ground for pioneering art since impressionist France. The Russian avant-garde existed without the blessings of the State as the 20th century began, but it was immediately pre and post Bolshevik revolution (1917) that the avant-garde flourished, achieving breakthroughs in painting, sculpture, theatre, film, photography, literature, design and architecture. As the nature of the avant-garde lent itself to encompassing many styles, all facets of art were affected deeply by the new wave, labelling their work constructivist or supremacist, cubist or surrealist – all considered themselves an active front of the avant-garde. Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953) studied at the Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture from 1909 to 1911 and was a pioneer of constructivism which culminated in his “defining expression of architectural constructivism” , Monument to the Third International which ironically remains unbuilt. Tatlin’s contribution to the art of revolutionary Russia reflected his character and through his unique constructivism brought a practicality and sense of realism to an avant-garde movement of progressively surrealist representations.

Art of the revolution was a substantial movement away from that of the previous centuries, as is to be expected. The Bolshevik revolution created an environment wherein artistic freedom no longer had a predetermined dialect. Because of this, artists were able to express themselves on a truly blank historical canvas, although the social picture was firmly painted by the revolution. A strange situation in which there was freedom to articulate in any manner, but a particular tone (in this case socialism) was expected, rather than vice versa. Tatlin’s gravitation toward the art of the constructed – art of ‘real’ materials allowed him to express unmistakably both his own personal agendas and the massive, systematic socialist state in a tangible approach...