The photomontage technique appeared in Russia and Europe during WWI and bloomed particularly at the Bauhaus in Weimar and in Moscow. The pioneers of the genre are Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitsky and Gustav Klutsis. Their work gets a boost after the... [more]
The photomontage technique appeared in Russia and Europe during WWI and bloomed particularly at the Bauhaus in Weimar and in Moscow. The pioneers of the genre are Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitsky and Gustav Klutsis. Their work gets a boost after the October Revolution. Vladimir Lenin declares that photography is a super-powerful propaganda tool in a country where 70% of the population cannot read.
During the civil war he even plans to give every soldier a camera in order to let them use it as a weapon able to demonstrate visually and precisely the political changes. The idea wasn't pushed any further. It was technically tricky and the country was facing more ruins and bleak desolation than the State would admit. The photomontage would then be used to portrait a cheerful "reality" and bright future. The medium was perfect: it combined the realism of the photography with the revolutionary rhetoric [show less]