- Russian Avant Garde
- such art was forbidden in totalitarian Soviet state
- modern artist Nikolai Punin
- Punin arrested 3 times, sent to concentration camp 1950
- first major undertaking was to commission exhibition of contemporary art 1919
- almost 2000 works from various artists
- during Revolution, young artists decorated streets with painted murals
- Punin had strong negative reaction to public sculptures of political figures
- felt that the human body should no longer serve as artistic form in sculpture
- artist Tatlin hoped future would be filled with beautiful, useful things
- in 1921 revolutionary artists founded their own museum
- Punin helped to procure funds to purchase paintings for museum
- bought works of Tatlin, Malevich, Kandinsky, etc
- 60 out of 70 taken with Punin were shot, he was released
- "My romance with the revolution was over" Punin
- established Research Institute of Artistic Culture, museum as base
- Punin helped Tatlin to construct iron spiral at his workshop
- Tatlin and Malevich were bitter rivals
- 1920s was a time when revolutionary illusions collapsed
- works eventually taken from the Institute for the Russian Art Museum
- had an extremely hard time gaining acceptance
- people now wanted tinted and lacquered photographs
- after 1935, works of Avant Garde were no longer exhibited
- they were replaced by socialist realism
- in 1940s, wave of repression began, Punin blamed for Western influence
- Malevich died in 1935, supremacist symbols on his coffin
- Tatlin cried at Malevich's death, lived quiet life
- Punin died in his barracks, buried without a coffin
While I thought the film was a little slow at times, I definitely learned a lot about Punin and the Avant Garde artists during the revolution in Russia. The works of the artists were beautiful, and I wish the film had actually shown more of the works. At times I felt the visuals were a little random and distracting, when they could have been highlighting more of the artists' works. It was a pretty sad story overall, and it's hard to believe that the incredibly intricate and imaginative works went so unappreciated. I felt the artists and especially Punin were misunderstood and treated as scapegoats by the government. It's just depressing to me that they had to die in concentration camps and be buried in nameless graves. I am very inspired by the works of these artists and I appreciated the romantic outlook and quotes from Punin throughout the film.
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