Tatlin, Vladimir, 1885-1953, Russian painter and sculptor, known as the Father of Russian constructivism. After graduating (1910) from the Moscow Academy of Fine Arts, he traveled to Paris where he was so influenced by Picasso's reliefs that he became a sculptor. After the Russian Revolution, Tatlin produced art that remained abstract but was more politically oriented. His most famous piece remains his monument to the Third International (1920, Moscow), a 22-ft-high (6.7-m) iron frame on which rested a revolving cylinder, cube, and cone, all made of glass. He also is noted for his costumes for stage productions, such as Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman (1915-17).

Tatlin’s Tower or The Monument to the Third International was a grand monumental building envisioned by the Russian artist and architect Vladimir Tatlin, but never built. It was planned to be erected in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, as the headquarters and monument of the Comintern (the third international).

Plans

Tatlin's Constructivist tower was to be built from industrial materials: iron, glass and steel. In materials, shape, and function, it was envisioned as a towering symbol of modernity. It would have dwarfed the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The tower's main form was a twin helix which spiraled up to 400 m in height, which visitors would be transported around with the aid of various mechanical devices. The main framework would contain four large suspended geometric structures. These structures would rotate at different rates of speed. At the base of the structure was a cube which was designed as a venue for lectures, conferences and legislative meetings, and this would complete a rotation in the span of one year. Above the cube would be a smaller pyramid housing executive activities and completing a rotation once a month. Further up would be a cylinder, which was to house an information centre, issuing news bulletins and manifestos via telegraph, radio and loudspeaker, and would complete a rotation once a day. At the top, there would be a hemisphere for radio equipment. There were also plans to install a gigantic open-air screen on the cylinder, and a further projector which would be able to cast messages across the clouds on any overcast day.

Evaluations

The Monument is generally considered to be the defining expression of architectural constructivism, rather than a buildable project. Even if the gigantic amount of required steel had been available in revolutionary Russia, in the context of housing shortages and political turmoil, there are serious doubts about its structural practicality.

Models

There is a model of Tatlin’s Tower at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, Sweden.

References

• Art and Literature under the Bolsheviks: Volume One - The Crisis of Renewal Brandon Taylor, Pluto Press, London 1991
• Tatlin, edited by L.A. Zhadova, Thames and Hudson, London 1988
• Concepts of Modern Art, edited by Nikos Stangos, Thames and Hudson, London 1981
• Vladimir Tatlin and the Russian avant-garde, John Milner, Yale University Press, New Haven 1983
• The Monument to the Third International, Nikolai Punin 1920

See also

• Shukhov Tower

External links

• Tatlin's Tower and the World — Artist group's web site on the project of building Tatlin's Tower in full scale.
• Tatlin's Tower - The Monument to the Third International Moscow Location - 3D model of the Tatlin Tower