17 Facts About Vkhutemas

Vkhutemas was the Russian state art and technical school founded in 1920 in Moscow, replacing the Moscow Svomas.

Vkhutemas was a center for three major movements in avant garde art and architecture: constructivism, rationalism, and suprematism.

Preliminary basic course was an important part of the new teaching method that was developed at Vkhutemas, and was made compulsory for all students, regardless of their future specialization.

Primary movements in art which influenced education at Vkhutemas were constructivism and suprematism, although individuals were versatile enough to fit into many or no movements—often teaching in multiple departments and working in diverse media.

The artistic education at Vkhutemas tended to be multidisciplinary, which stemmed from its origins as a merger of a fine arts college and a craft school.

Related searches

Vkhutemas cultivated polymath masters in the Renaissance mold, many with achievements in graphics, sculpture, product design, and architecture.

The industrial department at Vkhutemas endeavored to create products of viability in the economy and functionality found in society.

The products designed at Vkhutemas never bridged the gap between workshops and factory production, although they cultivated a factory aesthetic—Popova, Stepanova, and Tatlin even designed worker's industrial apparel.

Furniture pieces constructed at Vkhutemas explored the possibilities of new industrial materials such as plywood and tubular steel.

Three months after its founding, on 25 February 1921, Lenin went to Vkhutemas to visit the daughter of Inessa Armand and to converse with the students, where in a discussion about art he found an affinity among them for Futurism.

Vkhutemas did not wholly approve of it, expressing concern over the connection between the student's art and politics.

Ivan Leonidov's final project at Vkhutemas was his design for a Lenin Institute of Librarianship.

Vkhutemas was a close parallel to the German Bauhaus in its intent, organization and scope.

Vkhutemas was a larger school than the Bauhaus, but it was less publicised and consequently, is less familiar to the West.

Vkhutemas's influence was expansive however—the school exhibited two structures by faculty and award-winning student work at the 1925 Exposition in Paris.

Furthermore, Vkhutemas attracted the interest and several visits from the director of the Museum of Modern Art, Alfred Barr.

The Modernist movements which Vkhutemas had helped generate were critically considered as abstract formalism, and were succeeded historically by socialist realism, postconstructivism, and the Empire style of Stalinist architecture.