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A Brief Examination Of The Relationship Between The Russian Avant-Garde And The October Revolution

A Brief Examination Of The Relationship Between The Russian Avant-Garde And The October Revolution

The Russian Avant Garde began in Russia in about 1915 It was the year that Malevich revealed his Suprematist compositions that reduced painting to total abstraction. and rid the pictures of any reference whatsoever to the visual world. He is credited with being the first artist to do this; that is, forsake the visual world for a world of pure feeling and sensation. This was the first movement originated by Russians and the birth of several other Avant Garde movements. Probably the most popular piece at his 1915 exhibition was “BLACK SQUARE” (real name “suprematist composition”. It’s basically a black square on a slightly larger white square that forms a border around it. It was hung in the exhibition in the way an icon would be hung in a peasant’s home; ie top corner of the room. Malevich saw Suprematism as representing a yearning for space, an impulse to break free from the globe of the earth. It a spirit, a spirituality that went beyond anything before it.

Among Malevich’s students and contemporaries were such names as El Lissitzsky, Alexsandr Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin who were, of course, to lead the Constructivist movement which started in the same year as Malevich’s exhibition. Tatlin had returned from studying art in Paris in 1913 where he had seen a series of relief constructions by Picasso. Tatlin became very interested in form and message rather than representation and so he himself made a series of constructions. They were in the same vein as Picasso, but they were framed within a space and jutted out of the picture plane into the space of the observer. They created a lot of interest and he coined the term Constructivism. Tatlin and Malevich, who had been friends up until this point started to be competitors over art ideology and this continued for a long time after the Bolshevik Revolution in October, 1917.

There had been a smaller Capitalist revolution in February that year but the October Revolution completely usurped it. After the October Revolution both Tatlin and Malevich opened up art schools. Malevich’s Suprematist school was similar in style but not ideology to the De Stijl movement in Holland, while the Constructivist school of Tatlin’s had links to the German Bauhaus. The October revolution had been a primarily proletariat revolution and proletarians have proven to be somewhat negative in their attitude to new, radical confronting art styles and this was no exception. Both schools realised they had to prove their worth, so to speak. The new communist government saw artists as elite. A few things transpired to change the soviet government’s ideas about these artists.

Rodchenko was proud of the fact that the leftist artists had been the first to come to work with the Bolshevik comrades. There was a Constructivist manifesto released in 1922,( when Constructivism had reached its Zenith and had started ever so slowly to decline,) stating that the movement as a whole was “trying to build the intellectual material production of Communist culture”. The general mood among the Avant Garde was one of completely embracing the Bolshevik ideal. Perhaps this is why they were given so much freedom. From all accounts, the leftist artists felt very supported by the government. According to a letter written at the time by a friend of several of the artists, all of the young artists, no matter how innovative or experimental were taken seriously. They spoke about being able to realise their dreams, and they were grateful that neither politics nor power intruded into their work. They felt it was the first time most of them had been given the opportunity to do everything they wanted in their own field. A boyish dream, perhaps, but it must have been extremely liberating. They ran with their new ideas for a while and then got down to the work of helping the revolution through art.

The Suprematist and Constructivist schools tried different approaches. Malevich’s Suprematists were trying to create a whole new vision, a new world, breaking all tradition and rejecting the old culture. Tatlin’s school, however, rejected easel painting. They said it was bourgeois and should be discounted completely. They adopted a very mathematical, utilitarian approach to art. They studied engineering and architecture. They started designing artistic, functional but also utilitarian equipment for the new society. Their approach worked. More and more they were noticed to be making art for the masses. To a new government who were wrestling with such questions as how to shape the new Soviet society and what people needed to be taught (so as to become proper soviet citizens), these artists looked like they had the ability and intelligence to fulfil the government dreams. They were looking for the official proletarian art and, although suprematism had some ideas they could use, Constructivism was looking better and better. Trotsky, Bukharin, Lunacharsky and others were against government control of the arts; so they must have been delighted to have the artists themselves so willing to help with the propaganda campaign, seen as so necessary for the education of the masses.

Trotsky felt art should be left alone but the government needed to turn the working classes into a conscious collective, both politically and technologically.

The fact that most of the population was unable to read a political pamphlet created some problems. Posters with pictorial messages became essential to the mass communication system. By the 1920s, Constructivism became the dominant art primarily because they were able to fuse poster art with fine art and make it accessible to the masses. The Suprematists did print a few abstract posters like El Lissitsky’s 1919 poster. .BEAT THE WHITES WITH THE RED WEDGE but they had nowhere near the propaganda power of Tatlin’s boys.

Suprematists did also insist on imbuing their work with a deep spirituality that flew in the face of new soviet atheistic ideals. This was another reason for its unpopularity.

The government saw Constructivism as a tool and all other art as Art. Lenin said he did not know whether all these art forms were the highest manifestation of artistic genius or not; simply because he was unable to understand them. He also said that he received no joy or pleasure from them either. Further, that although complete freedom was the right of every artist this did not mean free reign was to be the order of the day either. Stalin was later to take this to mean extreme and total control of the arts which led to the bloody purges of those who had not died.

This is not to say that the Constructivists weren’t astract, they were, but also very functional. They succeeded in eliminating personal taste completely from the objects they produced. They employed a rational approach to industrial designs.

By 1920 Tatlin had caught the eye of the government with his new industrial designs. He had, for instance, designed a new stove that used minimal fuel and radiated maximum heat. He also designed new functional clothing for the masses. In 1919 the Department for Artistic Work of the People’s Commissariat for Enlightenment commissioned Tatlin to produce a monument for the Third International. This was the work Tatlin is probably best known for, even though it was never built. It was more massive than the Eiffel Tower and was far too expensive to build anyway. A double concentric spiral form thrust into the sky at a 70degree angle to symbolise the new society reaching for the utopian goal. It was to be one third of a mile high and house a gigantic sphere, cube and prism. There were quite a few constructivist buildings erected but virtually no Suprematist designs ever saw the light of day.

By 1921 Constructivism had reached its Zenith and had slowly started a decline that would last another nine years or so until the Stalinist purge of artists began. Their popularity didn’t diminish very much but the punchiness of their art which was vital at the start of the revolution was no longer needed as much. The fist world war was over, the revolutionary government were now the official state line and the emphasis changed from War propaganda and monuments to posters promoting the new economic policy and the bourgeoning soviet cinema industry. Constructivist art turned its attention to the people as humans, not as units for the revolution. They started making functional art for the civil sector. George and Vladimir Sternberg were Constructivists who became widely recognised during this period. They designed economic policy posters similar to Rodchenko and Lissitzky but their real fame came through film poster designs. The Russian film industry was becoming very experimental and radical through such people as Eisenstein and Vertov and the Sternerg brothers naturally followed suite. They were also responsible for a world changing tecnique in graphic art and photography; The extreme close-up.

The slow decline of the Avant Garde art movement kept going until the early thirties. Artists were still creating remarkable Constructivist and Suprematist art, among other styles, But the heady days of revolution and innovation were behind them. The treasury was empty, there was no more money for gigantic monumental public art and architecture and glorious examples of people’s art. A lot of art was still produced but it had reverted somewhat. Considering what had just happened in art in Russia in the preceeding 15 years or so, this newly emerging art was almost safe by comparison. Oil on canvas came back. People were framing paintings again. In a lot of ways art, or the political edge of art, had lost its sharpness.

Stalin was in power. A peasant from the backwoods who’s idea of art was kittens in a basket crossed with a big titted wench frolicking on the new people’s farm. In 1932 Stalin got hold of the Union of Artists and put a man called Isaak Brodsky in charge. Brodsky had been trained in academic painting of the pre-revolutionary schools and was revolted by any art from Impressionism onwards. This spelt disaster for the Avant Garde artists. Stalin started making very scary public statements about art and artists. He said abstract art could no longer be tolerated. Art should be figurative as well as have a propaganda message. He said the demand of Soviet culture is that all coarseness and wildness should be eradicated from every corner of Soviet life. The Avant Garde was just an old Capitalist art in it’s death throes tearing itself apart, and it must be liquidated. IT WAS. In 1932 Georgii Sternberg was killed in a motorcycle accident. In 1935, before he could be pu!

rged, Malevich, the man who was responsible for giving the Avant Garde movement life, died in Moskow.

The Avant garde no longer had a base. A few caved in and became correct thinkers. A few escaped to other countries in Europe. Some stayed in Europe and some ended up in America. They have developed and grown. Along with Gabo and Rothko and Kandinsky and numerous others, they are still having a profound influence on art. There were many parallels between the Russian Avant Garde and the two revolutions in 1915. The big difference between them in 2001, is that the art survives and grows stronger; while the other is seen for what it is, a pathetic pseudo despotism run, for a lot of years by a sociopathic mortophile.

Bibliography:

Russian Constructivism. Christina Lodder.1983. Yale University Press.

Art Spoke. Robert Atkins.1993. Abbeville Press.

Art and Revolution. John Berger. 1969. Pantheon Books

The Struggle for Utopia. Victor Margolin. 1997. University of Chicago Press.

In October 2018, one person won a Mega Millions jackpot worth 1.54 billion dollars. How would you express that jackpot amount

1. In October 2018, one person won a Mega Millions jackpot worth 1.54 billion dollars. How would you express that jackpot amount in scientific notation?

1.54 × 1061.54 × 10915.4 × 10615.4 × 1092. In Major League Baseball, fans eat approximately 21 million hot dogs every season. There are a total of 2,430 games in each season. Approximately how many hot dogs are eaten at each game?

1,000 hot dogs

9,000 hot dogs

90,000 hot dogs

1 million hot dogs

The United States has two bodies of Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 435 seats in the House of Representatives. On November 9, 2018, following elections, 226 seats belonged to members of the Democratic party and 198 seats belonged to members of the Republican party. Election results were still undecided for the other 11 seats.

Republicans were leading 7 of the undecided races and Democrats were leading 4. If the 7 leading Republicans and 4 leading Democrats won their races, what percent of the seats in House of Representatives would belong to Democrats and what percent would belong to Republicans? Round answers to the nearest percent.

Democrats would hold 46% of the seats and Republicans would hold 52% of the seats.

Democrats would hold 50% of the seats and Republicans would hold 50% of the seats.

Democrats would hold 52% of the seats and Republicans would hold 46% of the seats.

Democrats would hold 53% of the seats and Republicans would hold 47% of the seats.

4. A syllabus in a student’s mathematics course states that she can earn 450 points on homework, 100 points on attendance, and 800 points on exams. What percent of her final grade is determined by her attendance? Round to the nearest percent.

7%

10%

13%

74%

5. Smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion each year. In 2017, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States was $19.39 trillion. Calculate the total economic impact of smoking (cost) as a percentage of the United States’ GDP. Round your answer to the nearest hundredth of a percent.

0.02%

0.15%

0.65%

1.55%

6. Two students went shopping and bought $150 worth of clothes. They had to pay an additional $14.78 in tax. Estimate the tax rate they had to pay.

About 5%

About 10%

About 14%

About 15%

7. George took his long-time crush on their first date. They went to dinner where he spent $84.50 and left an additional 20% tip. Later he paid for two movie tickets that cost $12.50 each and bought snacks at the movie that cost a total of $14.45. Which equation would calculate how much George spent on his date?

84.50 + (0.20 x 84.50) + (2 * 12.50) + 14.45

1.20 x 84.50 + 12.50 + 14.45

1.20 (84.50 + 12.50 + 14.45)

84.50 + (1.20 x 84.50) + 12.50 + 12.50 + 14.45

8. In 2018, a Quinnipiac University poll found that 65% of Florida voters support stricter gun laws. There are approximately 13 million registered voters in Florida. If the poll represents how all voters in Florida feel, which of the following is the best estimate of the number of voters who support stricter gun laws?

Between 130 thousand and 650 thousand voters

Between 1.3 million and 2.3 thousand voters

Between 4 million and 5 million voters

Between 8 million and 9 million voters

Use the following information to answer the next two questions.

9. A high school student is writing a report on which social media site, Facebook or Instagram, is preferred by Millennials (people born between 1980 and 1994) compared to Generation Z (people born 1995 or later). The results of her survey are below.

Facebook Instagram Total

Millennials 530 504 1034

Generation Z 129 905 1034

Total 659 1409 2068

Which of the following conclusions could be accurately drawn from these results?

Approximately 25% of Millennials surveyed prefer Facebook

Approximately 36% of Millennials surveyed prefer Instagram

Approximately 50% of Generation Z surveyed prefer Facebook

Approximately 90% of Generation Z surveyed prefer Instagram

10. The student made the calculation shown below. What question was she trying to answer?

504 ÷ 1409

What percentage of those who prefer Instagram are Millennials?

What percentage of those who prefer Facebook are Millennials?

What percentage of Millennials prefer Instagram?

What percentage of Millennials prefer Facebook?

11. A 2018 Chevrolet Suburban averages 15 miles per gallon of gas in the city. It drives 47% farther per gallon of gas on the highway. If gas costs $3.25 per gallon, how much does a Suburban cost to drive per mile on the highway? Round to the nearest cent

7 cents per mile on the highway

15 cents per mile on the highway

22 cents per mile on the highway

153 cents per mile on the highway

12. The following data table gives information about the change in smartphone sales of two leading companies from 2007 to 2017.

Company Smartphones sold in 2007 Smartphones sold in 2017 Smartphones sold in 2027

Apple 2.3 million 214.9 million ?

Samsung 435.5 million 321.3 million ?

The number of smartphones sold is changing for these companies every year. Suppose that over the next 10 years, from 2017 to 2027, their absolute rates of change of smartphone sales remains the same as the previous 10 years. Using the data table, determine which of the following statements would be true.

Samsung will sell more smartphones that Apple in 2027.

Samsung will sell over 400 million smartphones in 2027.

Apple will sell over 400 million smartphones in 2027.

Apple and Samsung will sell approximately the same number of smartphones in 2027.

Date 3/1/98 1/1/01 1/1/02 1/1/07 1/1/08 7/1/14 1/1/16 1/1/17 1/1/18

Minimum Wage $5.75 $6.25 $6.75 $7.50 $8.00 $9.00 $10.00 $10.50 $11.00

13. California’s minimum wage (in dollars per hour) has increased substantially over the last 20 years, as seen in the table below.

Which of these graphic displays should be used to show the rate of change, or trend, of these minimum wage rates over time?

a. A bar graphb. A line graphc. A pie chart

d. A table displaying the mean and median

15. The table below shows the yearly income of a random sample of family physicians across the US in 2018.

Doctor Income in 2018

Dr. Bonner$108,000

Dr. Dupree$210,000

Dr. Gilbreath$145,000

Dr. Griner$190,000

Dr. Hornbuckle$135,000

Dr. Houston$180,000

Dr. Kizer$187,000

Dr. Taurasi$162,000

Dr. Taylor$151,000

Dr. Thomas$235,000

Calculate the mean and median income in 2018 for these doctors.

Mean = $162,000, median = $171,000

Mean = $167,800, median = $162,000

Mean = $170,300, median = $171,000

Mean = $171,000, median = $180,000

Use the following information to answer the next two questions.

19. The cost of Carlos’s electric bill (E) is computed by using a monthly charge of $29.99 plus $0.11 per kilowatt hour (k), as follows:

E = 0.11k + 29.99

Solve this equation for k.

E0.11 – 29.99 = k

E0.11 + 29.99 = k

(E – 29.99) / 0.11 = k

(E + 29.99) / 0.11 = k

Use the following information to answer the next two questions.

22. Which of the following could be a model for the amount of money (A) Maddie’s saving account will contain after (w) weeks?

A = 300w

A = 300 + 0.03w

A = 300 + 1.03w

A = 300 * 1.03w

23. A 21-year-old in New York wants to figure out how much he will spend at a new club, Club C. He figures out that his cost can be calculated using the formula below. Which of the following could be an interpretation of this formula?

C = 20 + 12D

The cost he will pay to go to Club C is a $12 cover charge plus $20 per drink.

The cost he will pay to go to Club C is a $20 cover charge plus $12 per drink.

The cost he will pay to go to Club C is $20 after 12 AM.

The cost he and his friends will pay to go to Club C is a $32 per person.

25. The average price of 42-inch TVs has gone down dramatically over the past 20 years. The graph below shows the approximate average price of a 42-inch TV each year, beginning in 1998. The equation to model this is:

P = $1200 * .97 t

Where:

P = the average price of a 42-inch TV

t = number of years since 1998

Which of the following statements gives the best interpretation of this model?

The average price of a 42-inch TV has decreased by $97 every year

The average price of a 42-inch TV has decreased by $36 each year

The average price of a 42-inch TV has decreased by 3% every year

The average price of a 42-inch TV has decreased by 97% every year

26. Recall that the formula for earnings on a principal investment compounded annually is:

A = P * (1 + r)t

Where:

A = amount in the fund

P = principal (initial amount invested)

r = Annual Percentage Rate (APR) (as a decimal)

t = time in years, or term

If you invest $3,000 into each of the four options below, which option would yield the highest amount at the end of the term?

12 years, 3% APR

8 years, 5% APR

6 years, 7% APR

4 years, 10% APR

27. Nikolas invests $1,400 into a certificate of deposit that earns 1.8% compounded semiannually (twice a year). How much money will he have at the end of 5 years? Use the compound interest formula given below. Round final answer to the nearest cent.

A = P(1 + r/n)n*t

Where:

A = the amount in the account

P = the original principal

r = the annual interest rate

n = the number of compounding periods in a year

t = the number of years

$1,530.62

$1,531.23

$1,673.42

$3,314.31

Part 2: Open Ended Items

For Part 2: Write your work and answers on the test. The answer sheet is not needed for this section.

An Amazon Echo originally costs $99.99. It is on sale for 10% off. Sales tax of 7.5% is then added to the sale price. What is the cost of the Echo on sale including tax? Round your answer to the nearest penny.

1+7.510099.99*0.9=96.74The population of Minnesota is about 5.577 million people. Write Minnesota’s population in standard notation (as a number).

5.577*106=557,7000 peopleIn 2018, the Unites States had a population of 325.7 million people. Of these, 11.66 million lived in Ohio. What percent of all people in the United States lived in Ohio in 2018? Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a percent.

11.66325.7*100=3.6%As people are living longer and the world’s population is increasing, there are more and more people ages 65 or older. In 2000, approximately 419 million people were 65 or older. By 2017, that number increased to 656 million. On the two questions below, round to the nearest tenth when relevant.

a. What was the absolute change in the number of people 65 or older from 2000 to 2017?

Absolute Change=656-419=237 million b. What was the relative change in the number of people 65 or older from 2000 to 2017?

Relative Change=237419*100=56.6%

A student downloaded a new game on her phone that was recommended by her friend. She wanted to show her friend how good she was doing, so she wrote down all her scores on the game. Her first five scores on the game were 432, 543, 348, 788, and 823. On the two questions below, round to the nearest whole number when relevant.

a. What is her mean, or average, score on the game?

Mean=432+543+348+788+8235=586.8≈587b. What is her median score on the game?

Rearranging: 348, 432, 543, 788, 823Median=543Using the equation:

d = r * t

Where:

d = distance traveled

r = rate (speed, velocity)

t = time

If you have to fly from JFK airport in New York to LAX airport in Los Angeles, you will fly 2,475 miles. If the average amount of time for a plane to fly from JFK to LAX is 5 hours and 30 minutes, what is the average speed that a plane flies on this trip? Include the appropriate units.

Av.Speed=dt=2475miles5.5 hours=450 miles/hourYou need to buy bananas at the store, but you realize you only have $2. How many bananas could you buy if they each cost 30 cents? (Hint: you cannot buy a fraction of a banana).

Whole Bananas=20.3=6

After trick-or-treating, a boy opened all of his M&Ms and put them into one big jar. He ate the same amount of M&Ms each day until they were gone. He made a graph, shown below, to represent how many M&Ms he had left over time. His teacher explained that his situation could be modeled by a linear equation where M represents the amount of M&Ms left and d represents the number of days since Halloween that had passed. Use the student’s graph to answer the following questions.

3848100172974000

a.  Circle the horizontal intercept on the graph.

b. What information does the horizontal intercept tell you, in the context of this problem?

The Horizontal Intercept (days=50):There would no M&Ms left 50 days from Halloween

c.  What is the slope of the line on the graph?

Slopem=Change in M&MsChange in d(Days)=0-6050-30=-6020=-3 M&Ms/dayd.  What information does the slope tell you, in the context of this problem?

Slope tells rate at which M&M’s left are decreasing per day.

Is Good Sportsmanship a Thing of the Past

Coursework

(Author’s name)

(Institutional Affiliation)

Coursework 1

The article, Is Good Sportsmanship a Thing of the Past, argues that today’s sports lack a degree of sportsmanship, with most sportsmen divulging bad behavior (Ender, 2007). I agree with the points brought across in the article, because I believe that a higher percentage of sportsmen take on sports, not because they love these sports, but because they are looking for a source of income. For that reason, they end up engaging in bad sporting activities hence loosing the essence of sportsmanship. Just as the article explains, the overall level of sportsmanship in today’s sports world is lacking owing to the fact that most players and athletes are not taught the importance of sportsmanship during the first years of training. Most players and athletes have forgotten the importance of engaging in sports as a fun activity, and instead, play sports to win or to gain returns. To combat poor sportsmanship, parents and coaches need to teach their athletes the importance of good sportsmanship at a young age. I do not think that religion plays any role in sports for athletes. Good sportsmanship arises from individual understanding of morals.

Coursework 2

The word renaissance refers to the period characterizing the end of the middle ages from around the 14th century, through to the 16th century (Bailey, 2005). It is a period when the society underwent both a cultural and artistic transformation, hence the rise of modernity. Humanism, on the other hand, refers to a renaissance cultural movement that focused its ideas and beliefs on the human beings (Bailey, 2005). Artists such as Donatello are remembered for their trademark sculptures and painting that supported humanism during the renaissance period. An example of the usage of this is in the two sculptures, Saint Mark (1411-1413) and Kouros (556 BCE). These two pieces of art present the most famous statue sculptures that were developed through the renaissance period. The biggest similarity and correlation between the two is that they are both sculptures of human beings, thus embrace the foundations of humanism. These two pieces of art came from different countries, and for that reason, had different functions. The Saint Mark originated from Florence in Italy and served religious functions whereas Kouros came from Greece and was a representation of the Greek culture.

Coursework 3

Transition into adulthood is a significant part of the human life, as it signifies the climax of human growth and development. Throughout history, there have existed various initiation rites that have been used to welcome people from childhood to adulthood, which vary across the different cultures. In essence, such transitions have different social and religious connotations, as young adults are granted more religious responsibility as well as considered to be sexually mature (Jekielek & Brown, 2005). Societal changes have led to a change in the nature of initiation rites associated with transition into adulthood. Modernity, for example has forced a number of communities to drop their cultural transitional practices such as circumcision for their young adults. As a result, young adults today are not better off than before because they tend to lose their religious and cultural values at a time when these values matter the most. Most young adults do not understand the importance of their transition into adulthood and for that reason are not aware of their responsibilities as young adults. They enter their adulthood without a recognition of the seriousness of this phase in their life time and in most cases end up failing in their performance in adulthood (Jekielek & Brown, 2005).

References

Bailey, D. (2005). Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic.

United Kingdom: Routledge Publishers.

Ender (2007). Is Good Sportsmanship a Thing of The Past? Sportstales. Retrieved from:

http://sportales.com/sports/is-good-sportsmanship-a-thing-of-the-past/

Jekielek, S. & Brown B. (2005). The Transition to Adulthood: Characteristics of Young Adults

Ages 18 to 24 in America. Retrieved from: http://www.prb.org/pdf05/TransitionToAdulthood.pdf