Veshch, no. 3

1919–1920

Choosing Malevich and breaking with Chagall

Malevich replaces the school's classical teaching programme with his own and spreads suprematist theory school-wide; Lissitzky, still loyal to Chagall, is torn between two opposing paths but ultimately favours suprematism and breaks away from traditional Jewish art, and Chagall leaves the school shortly afterwards — he later recalled that his most zealous disciple, the moment he was appointed professor, went over to his opponents' camp. Lissitzky designs Malevich's book “On the New System in Art”, printed in 1,000 copies — an enormous number for an art book.

17 January – February 1920

Malevich and Lissitzky found Molposnovis, which becomes UNOVIS

On 17 January 1920 Malevich and Lissitzky co-found the short-lived group Molposnovis (“Young Followers of a New Art”); after a brief and stormy dispute and two rounds of renaming, it re-emerges in February as UNOVIS, the “Exponents of the New Art”. The group, disbanded in 1922, was pivotal in spreading suprematist ideology and launched Lissitzky's status as a leading figure of the avant-garde; its members signed works with a black square, while Lissitzky used a red one.

1921

Leaving for Germany as a “cultural emissary”

In 1921, as UNOVIS declines and suprematism begins to fracture into a utopian, spiritual half and a utilitarian one, Lissitzky aligns with neither and leaves Vitebsk: he takes a job as a “cultural emissary” of Soviet Russia and moves to Weimar Berlin to establish contacts between Russian and German artists — what exactly he did in this role remains unclear. In 1921–1925 he lives in Germany and Switzerland.

1922

First solo exhibition in Hanover

The year after the publication of his first Proun series in 1921, Kurt Schwitters introduces Lissitzky to the Hanover gallery Kestnergesellschaft, where he holds his first solo exhibition. The second Proun series, printed in Hanover in 1923, is a success.

1923

The Proun Room at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition

In 1923, for the Great Berlin Art Exhibition, Lissitzky transforms a small room (about 3 by 3 by 2.5 m) into a single work of art, the Proun Room, which lets viewers “walk into an image” and become active participants. He violates the unwritten rule of rejecting the commercialization of art by putting price tags on three elements of the room; the price tags, together with his “half-dance” during the demonstration of the room, alienate his friend Theo van Doesburg.

1923–1924

Tuberculosis and a Swiss hospital

In 1923–1924 Lissitzky is severely ill with tuberculosis and stays in a Swiss hospital; at this time he is reported even to have considered suicide. He will die of tuberculosis in 1941.