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

Covering the period of artistic innovation between 1912 and 1934, A Revolutionary Impulse: The Rise of the Russian Avant-Garde traces the arc of the pioneering Russian avant-garde from World War I through the 1917 Revolution and the completion of the first Five-Year Plan. Bringing together major works from MoMA’s extraordinary collection, the exhibition features breakthrough experimental projects in painting, drawing, sculpture, prints, book and graphic design, film, photography, and architecture 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, and Dziga Vertov, among others.

Coinciding with the centennial of the Russian Revolution, this exhibition examines key developments in the conception of Cubo-Futurism, Suprematism, Transrational Language, and Constructivism, as well as avant-garde film and photomontage. The remarkable sense of creative urgency, radical cross-fertilization, and synthesis within the visual arts—as well as aspirations among the Russian avant-garde to affect unprecedented sociopolitical transformation—wielded an influence on modes of art production in the 20th century and changed the course of modern history.