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Alexander Rodchenko Quotes

Artist

Alexander Rodchenko, born on December 5, 1891, and died on December 3, 1956, was a renowned Russian artist of the 20th century. He is best known for his innovative works in photography, graphic design, sculpture, and architecture.

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All Art Photography Form Different Men Modern Painter Painting People Photograph

Famous Alexander Rodchenko Quotes

“Photography has every right and every merit to claim our attention as the art of our age.”

Art Age Attention Photography Claims Merit

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“Only the camera seems to be really capable of describing modern life.”

Seems Modern Capable Cameras Modern Life Describing

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“Damn it, nobody knows what is beautiful and what is not. They do not understand new things.”

Knows Beautiful Damn New Things Nobody Knows

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“Art has no place in modern life. It will continue to exist as long as there is a mania for the romantic and so long as there are people who love beautiful lies and deception... Every modern cultured man must wage war against art, as against opium... Photograph and be photographed.”

People Men Long Art War Beautiful Lying Love Is Modern Photograph Deception Modern Life Opium Mania Beautiful Lies

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“Landscapes, heads and naked women are called artistic photography, while photographs of current events are called press photography.”

Events Photography Presses Photograph Currents Naked Artistic Landscape Current Events

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“Photography - the new, rapid, concrete reflector of the world - should surely undertake to show the world from all vantage points, and to develop people's capacity to see from all sides. (1928)”

People World Should Shows Sides Photography Capacity Concrete Rapids Vantage Point

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“We struggle against easel painting not because it is an aesthetic form of painting, but because it is not modern, for it does not succeed in bringing out the technical side, it is a redundant, exclusive art, and cannot be of any use to the masses. Hence we are struggling not against painting but against photography carried out as if it were an etching, a drawing, a picture in sepia or watercolor.”

Ifs Doe Art Use Form Sides Struggle Modern Painting Succeed Photography Mass Drawing Aesthetic Exclusive Redundant Watercolors Etching

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“In order to educate man to a new longing, everyday familiar objects must be shown to him with totally unexpected perspectives and in unexpected situations. New objects should be depicted from different sides in order to provide a complete impression of the object.”

“I want to take some quite incredible photographs that have never been taken before... pictures which are simple and complex at the same time, which will amaze and overwhelm people ... I must achieve this so that photography can begin to be considered a form of art.”

People Want Art Form Simple Taken Achieve Photography Complexes Incredibles Photograph Simple And Complex

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again.”

Ifs Different Views Situation Subjects Keys Shots Rounds Point Of View Holes Again And Again Different Points Of View

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“I reduced painting to its logical conclusion and exhibited three canvases: red, blue, and yellow. I affirmed: this is the end of painting.”

Ends Three Painting Red Blue Conclusion Logical Yellow Blue And Yellow

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“We must revolutionize our optical perception. We must remove the veil from our eyes.”

Eye Vision Perception Painter Remove Veils Sculptors Avant Garde

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“Contradictions of perspective. Contrasts of light. Contrasts of form. Points of view impossible to achieve in drawing and painting. Foreshortenings with a strong distortion of the objects, with a crude handling of matter. Moments altogether new, never seen before compositions whose boldness outstrips the imagination of painters Then the creation of those instants which do not exist, contrived by means of photomontage. The negative transmits altogether new stimuli to the sentient mind and eye.”

“Don’t try to capture a man in one synthetic portrait, but rather in lots of snapshots taken at different times and in different circumstances.”

Men Trying Different Taken Circumstances Capture Portraits Different Times Snapshots Synthetic

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“The viewer who sees only a study in the picture of the glass jug illuminated from behind fails to appreciate the masterly composition, the noble purity of the lines, the rich plasticity of the form and consequently also the poetry and beauty of the picture, and still more important, its specifically photographic qualities.”

Stills Important Form Lines Behinds Quality Study Rich Failing Appreciate Glasses Noble Purity Composition Viewers Jugs Plasticity

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

“Photography has all the rights, and all the merits, necessary for us to turn towards it as the art of our time.”

Art Turns Rights Photography Merit Our Time

Author:Alexander Rodchenko

About the Author

Born: December 5, 1891
Died: December 3, 1956
Known for: Artist
Quotes: 16

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