The Spectacle Machinery

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The Spectacle Machinery

Artist El Lissitzky (Russian, 1890-1941)

Date1923

DimensionsOverall: 20 7/8 x 17 15/16 in. (53.1 x 45.5 cm)

MediumColor lithograph

ClassificationPrints

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1981.7

Not on View

Label TextEl Lissitzky, after coming under the influence of Kazimir Malevich's Suprematism, developed Proun (Project for the Affirmation of the New), "an interchange station between painting and architecture," a new abstract language that would be universally understood. Lissitzky employed his Proun style in his 1920-21 designs for a never-realized electro-mechanical staging with puppets of the 1913 opera "Victory over the Sun." His images - here, four of the puppet characters performing on the mechanized scenery - evoke towering structures, magical levitation, and the imminent triumph of technology.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Russian Books & Prints, Dec.19,1981-Feb.15,1982.

Toledo Museum of Art, Between the Wars, Sept. 5-Dec. 31, 2000.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Great War: Art on the Frontline, Jul. 25-Oct. 19, 2014.

Toledo Museum of Art, Werner Pfeiffer Selects, Feb. 13-May 10, 2015.