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Futurist Wrestlers and Constructivist Worker-Sportsmen: The Russian Avant-garde and Heavy Athletics in the 1910s–1920s

  • Przemysław Strożek
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Volume 9 2019
This chapter is in the book Volume 9 2019

Abstract

This essay focusses on the reception of heavy athletics in Russian Futurism of the 1910s and discusses the place of wrestling and weightlifting within the workers’ sport movement in the 1920s. The aim is to acknowledge the links between the Futurist interest in sport during the 1910s in Russia and the development of the Constructivists’ visual propaganda devised in relation to the Red Sport International (RSI) in the following decade. The radical change from iconic images of wrestlers and strongmen in the 1910s to dexterous worker athletes in the 1920s went hand in hand with a shift of venues: from the circus to the theatre of revolution and then to the sporting arenas. Vladimir Mayakovsky’s satirical play Chempionat vsemirnoi klassovoi bor’by (Championship of the Universal Class Struggle, 1920) is analysed here as it provides a link between Futurist aesthetics and Constructivist propaganda art through its relationship to sport in Russia in the 1910s and 1920s. In this respect, Mayakovsky’s little known play was an important propaganda piece that clearly showed cultural changes in post-Revolutionary Russian society as well as ways of transforming Russian avant-garde aesthetics

Abstract

This essay focusses on the reception of heavy athletics in Russian Futurism of the 1910s and discusses the place of wrestling and weightlifting within the workers’ sport movement in the 1920s. The aim is to acknowledge the links between the Futurist interest in sport during the 1910s in Russia and the development of the Constructivists’ visual propaganda devised in relation to the Red Sport International (RSI) in the following decade. The radical change from iconic images of wrestlers and strongmen in the 1910s to dexterous worker athletes in the 1920s went hand in hand with a shift of venues: from the circus to the theatre of revolution and then to the sporting arenas. Vladimir Mayakovsky’s satirical play Chempionat vsemirnoi klassovoi bor’by (Championship of the Universal Class Struggle, 1920) is analysed here as it provides a link between Futurist aesthetics and Constructivist propaganda art through its relationship to sport in Russia in the 1910s and 1920s. In this respect, Mayakovsky’s little known play was an important propaganda piece that clearly showed cultural changes in post-Revolutionary Russian society as well as ways of transforming Russian avant-garde aesthetics

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Editorial IX
  4. Conventions of dates and transliteration used in this volume XXI
  5. 10.1515/9783110646238-202
  6. Marinetti’s Visit to Russia in 1914: Reportage in Russia and in Italy 3
  7. Futurism in the Russian Far East at the Beginning of the 1920s: The Historical and Cultural Context 35
  8. Velimir Khlebnikov’s Early Dramatic Production 73
  9. Maria Siniakova’s Sensual Futurism 122
  10. Mayakovsky’s Voices: Futurist Performance and Communication in Verse 157
  11. The New Semiotics of Advertising in Italian and Russian Futurism 188
  12. Futurist Wrestlers and Constructivist Worker-Sportsmen: The Russian Avant-garde and Heavy Athletics in the 1910s–1920s 214
  13. Zenitist Cinema: Influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky 236
  14. The Futurist Tradition in Contemporary Russian Artists’ Books 269
  15. Section 2: Archive Reports
  16. The Futurism Collection at the National Library of Finland in Helsinki 297
  17. Section 3: Caricatures and Satires of Futurism in the Contemporary Press
  18. “The Broom of Satire, the Brush of Humour”: Mayakovsky in Caricatures Preserved in the State Literary Museum in Moscow 311
  19. Section 4: Obituaries
  20. Daniele Lombardi (1946–2018) 339
  21. Enrico Crispolti (1933–2018) 349
  22. Section 5: Critical Responses to Exhibitions, Conferences and Publications
  23. Futurist Art Post Zang Tumb Tuuum 357
  24. The Futurist Universe at the Massimo Cirulli Collection 367
  25. A Hundred Years of Futurism in Portugal: The Conference 100 Futurismo in Lisbon 380
  26. A Hundred Years of Portuguese Futurism: The International Congress Futurismo Futurismos in Padua 389
  27. 100 Years of Portugal futurista: An Exhibition and Study Day in Lisbon 400
  28. Ultraism and the Historical Avant-garde 421
  29. The Verbo-voco-visual Artists’ Books of the Russian Avant-garde 429
  30. Evolutions of Russian Futurism in the 1910s and 20s 435
  31. Section 6: Bibliography
  32. A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2016–2019 443
  33. Section 7: Back Matter
  34. List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 473
  35. Notes on Contributors 479
  36. Name Index 487
  37. Subject Index 527
  38. Geographical Index 557
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110646238-008

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Editorial IX
  4. Conventions of dates and transliteration used in this volume XXI
  5. 10.1515/9783110646238-202
  6. Marinetti’s Visit to Russia in 1914: Reportage in Russia and in Italy 3
  7. Futurism in the Russian Far East at the Beginning of the 1920s: The Historical and Cultural Context 35
  8. Velimir Khlebnikov’s Early Dramatic Production 73
  9. Maria Siniakova’s Sensual Futurism 122
  10. Mayakovsky’s Voices: Futurist Performance and Communication in Verse 157
  11. The New Semiotics of Advertising in Italian and Russian Futurism 188
  12. Futurist Wrestlers and Constructivist Worker-Sportsmen: The Russian Avant-garde and Heavy Athletics in the 1910s–1920s 214
  13. Zenitist Cinema: Influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky 236
  14. The Futurist Tradition in Contemporary Russian Artists’ Books 269
  15. Section 2: Archive Reports
  16. The Futurism Collection at the National Library of Finland in Helsinki 297
  17. Section 3: Caricatures and Satires of Futurism in the Contemporary Press
  18. “The Broom of Satire, the Brush of Humour”: Mayakovsky in Caricatures Preserved in the State Literary Museum in Moscow 311
  19. Section 4: Obituaries
  20. Daniele Lombardi (1946–2018) 339
  21. Enrico Crispolti (1933–2018) 349
  22. Section 5: Critical Responses to Exhibitions, Conferences and Publications
  23. Futurist Art Post Zang Tumb Tuuum 357
  24. The Futurist Universe at the Massimo Cirulli Collection 367
  25. A Hundred Years of Futurism in Portugal: The Conference 100 Futurismo in Lisbon 380
  26. A Hundred Years of Portuguese Futurism: The International Congress Futurismo Futurismos in Padua 389
  27. 100 Years of Portugal futurista: An Exhibition and Study Day in Lisbon 400
  28. Ultraism and the Historical Avant-garde 421
  29. The Verbo-voco-visual Artists’ Books of the Russian Avant-garde 429
  30. Evolutions of Russian Futurism in the 1910s and 20s 435
  31. Section 6: Bibliography
  32. A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2016–2019 443
  33. Section 7: Back Matter
  34. List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 473
  35. Notes on Contributors 479
  36. Name Index 487
  37. Subject Index 527
  38. Geographical Index 557
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