Lissitzky, El (Eliezer Markowich) (1890–1941)

Russian painter, designer, printmaker, typographer, and illustrator. Like his fellow Russian Malevich, he was a pioneer of non-objective art. In his Prouns series of lithographs and works on paper, he floated precise, geometric forms against an infinite white ground, as in Proun 7A, Moscow 1919–20 (Kunstmuseum, Basel).

A trained architect and engineer, Lissitzky taught with Chagall and Malevich at the art school in Vitebsk 1919 and, inspired by the latter's use of pure geometric form, swiftly turned to abstract art. Although influenced by suprematism, his abstract works have spatial implications which opposes them to the flatness of Malevich's work. His poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge 1919 uses abstract art for propagandist purposes.

Travelling between Russia, Germany, and Switzerland, he spread the ideas of the Russian avant-garde through his art, lectures, and radical designs for typography and exhibition displays. His theories influenced Dutch De Stijl and German Bauhaus teaching, and were later transmitted to the USA.