Alexander Vesnin | |
|---|---|
) Photo by Alexander Rodchenko, 1924 (fragment) | |
| Born | May 28 (16), 1883 |
| Died | September 7, 1959 Moscow |
| Nationality | Russian Empire, Soviet Union |
| Alma mater | Institute of Civil Engineers, Saint Petersburg |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Practice | Vesnin brothers |
| Buildings | Dnieper Hydroelectric Station ZiL Palace of Culture |
Alexander Aleksandrovic Vesnin (Russian: Александр Александрович Веснин) (1883, Yuryevets – 1959, Moscow), together with his brothers Leonid and Viktor, was a leading light of Constructivist architecture.[1] He is best known for his meticulous perspectival drawings such as Leningrad Pravda of 1924.
In addition to being an architect, he was a theatre designer and painter,[2] frequently working with Lyubov Popova on designs for workers' festivals, and for the theatre of Tairov. He was one of the exhibitors in the pioneering Constructivist exhibition 5x5=25 in 1921. He was the head, along with Moisei Ginzburg, of the Constructivist OSA Group.[3] Among the completed buildings designed by the Vesnin brothers in the later 1920s were department stores, a club for former Tsarist political prisoners as well as the Likachev Works Palace of Culture in Moscow. Vesnin was a vocal supporter of the works of Le Corbusier,[4] and acclaimed his Tsentrosoyuz building as 'the best building constructed in Moscow for a century'. After the return to Classicism in the Soviet Union, Vesnin had no further major projects.
Abstract Composition. 1915c. M.T. Abraham Foundation
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Selected Work
- 1934 Commissariat of Heavy Industry Project
- 1930 Oilworkers' Club, Baku[5]
- 1930-36 Likachev Palace of Culture, Moscow
- 1928 House of Film Actors, Moscow
- 1926 Mostorg department store, Moscow
- 1924 Leningradskaya Pravda project
- 1922-23 Palace of Labor project[6]
References
- ^ Khan-Magomedov, S.O. (1996). Architecture of the Soviet avant-garde: In 2 books: B. 1: Formation problems. Masters and currents. Moscow: Stroyizdat.
- ^ Chinyakov, A.G. (1970). The Vesnin brothers. Moscow: Stroyizdat.
- ^ Khan-Magomedov, S.O. (1994). ASNOVA, OSA and INKHUK group. Creative trends, concepts and organizations of the Soviet avant-garde. Series of issues of VNIITAG No. 4. Moscow: VNIITAG.
- ^ Chinyakov, A.G. (1969). "Le Corbusier and Vesnin Brothers". Soviet Architecture. 18: 133–142.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
- ^ "Russian Utopia: a depository". Utopia.ru. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
- S.N Khan-Magomedov, Alexander Vesnin and Russian Constructivism (Thames and Hudson, 1988)
- Khan-Magomedov S. O. Architecture of the Soviet avant-garde: In 2 books: B. 1: Formation problems. Masters and currents. - M .: Stroyizdat. 1996 .-- 709 pp., Ill. ISBN 5-274-02045-3.
- A.G. Chinyakov. The Vesnin brothers. Moscow, 1970.