Design History: "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge"

Contents:

• Emergence
• Geometry
• Idea and Energy
• Form
• Perception and Reinterpretation

In the section "The History of One Design" we discuss outstanding design works, covering the reasons for their appearance, their meaning and influence on the evolution Visual culture.

The poster entitled "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge," created by the artist El Lissitzky, became one of the most famous symbols of the Russian avant-garde. It was developed during a period when artistic ideas were actively developing in Europe and a search was underway for fresh forms of self-expression in art.

Lissitzky developed it at the intersection of Futurism, an artistic movement emphasizing progress, mechanization, and industrialization, and Suprematism, an avant-garde style that rejected objectivity.

Appearance

At the height of the civil conflict, the Political Directorate of the Western Front approached the avant-garde art association Unovis with a request to create a poster.

By the time in question, propaganda posters had already firmly entered the arsenal of political struggle and propaganda supporting the government. Typically, such posters contained illustrations that depicted either unattractive, pathetic, or disgusting images of the opponents, while heroic figures represented those who were on the authors' side.

The artistic avant-garde, as an innovative form of visual expression, proved too difficult for the general public to perceive, which made it unsuitable for use in poster illustration. However, "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge" can be seen as a striking exception to this trend.

Geometry

"Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge" includes geometric forms executed in three color schemes: red, white and black. The background space is divided into two zones: on the left, shaded side, there is a white circle, and on the right, lighter, as if in motion, there is a red triangle, which, like a wedge, attacks the white circle.

Since 1915, the Suprematists began experimenting with non-objective forms on a plane. A variety of squares, circles, and triangles, varying in color and size, form simple and harmonious Suprematist compositions. In this context, the compositional structure of El Lissitzky's poster did not seem fundamentally new. Nevertheless, the meaning embedded in his work radically changed the idea of ​​non-objectivity.

Idea and Energy

Although Suprematist forms do not correspond to anything from the material world, in Lissitzky's works the circle and triangle become symbolic images personifying the White and Red Armies. The use of the wedge-shaped form in military formations dates back to the era of the Crusades.

Suprematist works do not possess movement, like Plato's abstractions, which seem to hover in a boundless ocean of eternity. They convey a primordial idea, while Lissitzky's poster is saturated with powerful - aggressive and focused - energy.

Lissitzky's work is characterized by a pronounced dynamic vector, where the red triangle penetrates the center of the white circle. The words "wedge" and "red," like jet streams from a rocket cone, accelerate the elements of the composition, giving them the appearance of parts of an engineering device and bringing them closer to images of a futuristic ideal.

The direction in which the red wedge moves is significant: it moves from left to right, which corresponds to the natural direction of our gaze, similar to how we read text. Scholars emphasize that if the poster were shown mirrored, with the wedge entering the circle from the right, much of its visual power would be lost.

Form

The fact that the poster became one of the key works of avant-garde art carries profound meaning. Artists of the new generation actively contrast their works with the outdated traditions of painting, enclosed in expensive frames, displayed in cozy, secure spaces where access is strictly limited, and each of these paintings exists in a single copy.

Art as a privilege of a small circle causes discontent among the avant-garde. Their creation—the poster—is produced in large quantities and intended for a wide audience, where everyone has an equal opportunity to perceive it, whether an illiterate teenager or a sophisticated connoisseur. However, the poster is not destined to last long: it will be worn out by the wind, soaked by the rain, or damaged by a hooligan.

Perception and Reinterpretation

The classic form, presented as a circle, when combined with an asymmetrical element such as a wedge, disrupts the harmony of the entire composition. This creates an effect of incompleteness and dynamism - a technique that became traditional in modernist art and was developed during the experiments of El Lissitzky.

One of its most famous interpretations is Alexander Rodchenko's poster entitled "Lengiz: Books on All Branches of Knowledge."

Dmitry Kozlov, who studies the work of El Lissitzky, argues that the popular architectural design of Soviet sports complexes - round stadiums with staircases in the form of triangular wedges - is a materialization of the concept of the "red wedge" proposed by Lissitzky.

Today, the red wedge penetrating the white circle finds its application in the design of clothing, watches, and music covers.