Gustav Klutsis Influence On Society

Gustav Klutsis, most famous for the Soviet propaganda works he created up until his death, was a trailblazing artist and major member of the Constructivist avant-garde movement during the early 20th century. He experimented with many diverse medias, most notably being the photomontage. However, one has to wonder what inspired Klutsis to produce political art for the Soviet state for the entirety of his life. To further understand Klutsis’ devotion to the Soviet state, one must acknowledge his past. Born in Latvia at the tail end of the 19th century, Klutsis, like many of the other young latvians, got caught up in the tremors of the first world war. In 1905, the same year that his father passed away, the Russian Revolution broke out and his
He then volunteered for the Red Latvian Riflemen guard as a machine gun runner, where swore to protect the Bolshevik leaders, which included the likes of Vladimir Lenin. The closeness to the heart of the Bolshevik revolution only escalated his political beliefs. Klutsis continued to study art during his service in the military and learned under the originator of the Suprematist movement, Kazimir Malevich and a sculptor by the name of Antoine Pevsner. Both men were born of Russian descent. This would eventually lead him to the creation of his first piece featuring the photo-montage method, titled “The Attack. The Latvian Rifleman” in
This brought upon the introduction of one of Stalins first grand projects, The Five Year Plan. It was a plan to modernize the Soviet Union, which Stalin believed was far behind the west. This plan was an attempt to build up mass industrialization and collectivize the farming economy. This is where Klutsis and his posters come into play. To spread the idea for such radical progress, an influx of mass propaganda was required. Throughout the next ten years, Klutsis works with the state art publisher, Izgoiz, who ordered and censored the more than 50 posters that Klutsis designed. The posters featured heavily industrialized themes such as workers, factories and of course, Soviet leaders. No poster fits this description better than Klutsis’ 1931 work entitled, “May Day. We Fight For…” May Day, which is the International Workers' Day chosen by the communists, had been celebrated illegally in Russia until the February Revolution allowed its first legal celebration in 1917. May Day now symbolized the success of Soviet industrialization. They also seem to include the theme of unity, a call to rally all the workers and bring the USSR into the modern age. Klutsis' poster entitled “Let's Fulfill the Plan of Great Works” created in 1930, is a prime example. Complete unity is conveyed with multiple hands raised and coming together into one large hand. The largest hand representing the leader,