Troublemaker

1920–1921

Moscow: INKhUK, a lecture on the Prouns, VKhUTEMAS

In 1920 Lissitzky leaves Vitebsk for Moscow and becomes a member of INKhUK (the Institute of Artistic Culture, also referred to as GINKhUK); on 23 September 1921 he gives a lecture there about his Prouns. In 1921 he also starts to teach at VKhUTEMAS but soon leaves Moscow for Germany.

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.

1925

Return to the USSR

Lissitzky's years in Germany and Switzerland run from 1921 to 1925; it appears that in 1925 he returns to the Soviet Union.