A Revolutionary Impulse: The Rise of the Russian Avant-Garde

Covering the creative period between 1912 and 1934, A Revolutionary Impulse: The Rise of the Russian Avant-Garde offers a critical assessment of the pioneering Russian avant-garde production in the wake of the 1917 Revolution and until the completion of the First Five-Year Plan. Bringing together major works from MoMA’s unparalleled collection, the exhibition features breakthrough experimental projects in painting, drawing and sculpture, film and photography, architecture and graphic design, and prints and artist books by leading figures such as Alexandra Exter, Natalia Goncharova, El Lissitzky, Kasimir Malevich, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Lyubov Popova, Alexandr Rodchenko, Olga Rozanova, Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg, Nikolai Suetin, and Dziga Vertov, among others.

The exhibition examines the remarkable sense of creative urgency, radicalcross-fertilization and synthesis among the arts as well as aspirations about sociopolitical issues among the Russian avant-garde that have changed the course of modern history. Organized on the occasion of the centenary of the Russian Revolution by Roxana Marcoci, Senior Curator, Department of Photography and Sarah Suzuki, Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints; with Hillary Reder, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints.