The emergence of Russian avant-garde art and its revolutionary process in the socio-cultural context

The evolutionary process of the Russian avant-garde developed within the framework of the cultural and political changes that took place in Russia. Russian artists tried to make a synthesis of art movements from Western Europe with their unique cultural values. Neo-Primitivism which reflected the national culture, Cubo-Futurism which reflected the influences of Cubism and Futurism, Rayonism and Suprematism art movements which broke away from European influences as a style and went towards originality, all these movements directed the pre-revolutionary Russian avant-garde. The social, philosophical and cultural background that makes Russia different from Western Europe and the idea of creating a new culture have affected Russian avant-garde art in various ways. While pre-revolutionary Futurist artists continued the concept of creating a new life of Symbolist artists before them, they wanted to formulate a new one by breaking their linguistic and formal patterns. The idea of creating a new culture has shaped the concept of art in every aspect, and the avant-garde art movements in Russia shared the same objective with some differences. Russian avant-garde artists have seen art as a tool for shaping life. After the revolution, the art material that changed with modernism and technology led the artists to work with industrial materials. The revolution that took place in Russia led to a transformation in the political and cultural structure and its effects were also reflected in art. The avant-garde artists, who previously acted more freely in artistic creation started to produce production-oriented and utilitarian projects. In this thesis, the artistic difference between pre-revolution and post-revolution, the transformation of Russia, the radical break in art, how political ideology affected art and the artist are discussed.