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Proun WorldA Homage to El Lissitzky and the Suprematist

Made from formex, colored paper, zinc, and balsa wood, the Proun World sculpture takes inspiration from the paintings and installation of Suprematism and Constructivism artists, most specfically the 1920s Proun painting series by the Soviet artist, architect, and designer El Lissitzky (1890 - 1941). The sculpture consists basic geometry shapes connected to each other in a 3D composition, shown with a clear emphasis on movement and dynamics. The final form is an interpretation made from a detailed analysis of Lissitzky’s Prouneraum (Proun Room) in 1923, borrowing theoretical and technical concepts of the time-space, imaginary space, and an interdisciplinary outlook on art, architecture, and design. I used precise composition and construction to present abstract floating objects to evoke the spirit of Lissitzky’s innovative vision.

The Suprematism movement originated in early 20th-century Russia, emerging as a response to the chaotic social and political climate of a post-revolution nation. Founded by Kazimir Malevich, the core of this movement are a negation of representational art and an emphasis on non-objective art, featuring pure visual elements and abstract shapes. I found the philosophical thinking behind Suprematism highly inspirational in that it takes art as not just entertainment for a privileged few, but elevated as an interdisciplinary field across architecture, design, and art – all to serve the masses.  In his manifesto, Kazimir Malevich declared the “supremacy of pure feeling” in art as the force of Suprematism – to convey the artist's inner emotions through abstract forms and colors, from which to create a more universal connection between artwork and its audience.  

Proun, short for the Russian term "Project for the Affirmation of the New”, was coined by El Lissitzky in 1921 to introduce the concept of transcending traditional artistic categories into the intersection of painting, architecture, and design. The Proun paintings are characterized by abstract, geometric compositions, dynamic forms, intersecting plans, and especially, a sense of movement through illusory images. Lissitzky was mainly interested in the concept of time-space, in which he introduced time into his works by “capturing different moments of movements through the repetition of lines and forms” and a rotatable canvas that can be viewed from any perspective.  To him, the “imaginary space” was a space constructed only in the mental realm of the audience as they view the space depicted in the illusory images in Proun.  While there was no kinetic work in the Proun, Lissitzky did attempt to translate his 2D imaginary space into a 3D installation, called Prouneraum (Proun Room). My sculpture is a direct response and interpretation to the formal choices in this installation.

Instead of translating chosen paintings from the Proun series, I wanted to arrive at an original composition based on initial formal analysis of the whole series.

The first step was to narrow down the fundamental blocks and visual motif Lissitzky used in the Prouns – basic shapes, lines, intersecting planes, floating and dynamic movements. I first started by translating my understanding and absorption of these forms into a 2D, moveable form of cut-out cardboard shapes (Fig. 1). 

This limited group of shapes allowed for diverse compositional study. I tried translating several Proun paintings and those from other Suprematism/ Constructivism artists into 2D and 3D forms (Fig. 2) to familiarize myself with the possibilities of depicting dynamics and movement in the overall composition – the two factors that are central to many Suprematism and avant-garde works . This experiment culminated in a detailed understanding of the Suprematist composition, helping me to absorb the visual motifs by sampling besides textual research.




The final form is the result of careful consideration and various experimentation. Originally, Lissitzky’s Berlin Proun Space (1923) was the prototype – an installation that consisted of the typical 2D elements in the Proun series made physical. However, for Proun World, I want to elevate the audience’s experience, and therefore, instead of sticking 2D elements across adjacent walls, the objects are constructed to be floating and intersecting with each other, similar to the 2D Prouns. Another note in this step is the attention to a singular core in a composition, from which all other elements revolve around it as this is characteristic of several Suprematist artworks.

The enveloping cuboid serves as the background for the 3D forms, anchoring the composition and providing a perspective that engages the viewer directly. This manipulation of spatial perception aligns closely with Lissitzky's theory of imaginary space, where the audience's perception materializes the space in their minds . By elevating corners, receding the back wall, and diagonally ascending side walls, the sculpture creates an illusory movement of a cuboid viewed from a wide-angle perspective – as if the whole shape is extending to the onlooker. The construction requires meticulous planning to connect floating objects and defy gravitational forces, which was not an issue in 2D paintings (Fig. 3). The process leads to an overall body of work that appears to be unfolding and moving dynamically toward the viewer, maintaining an eye-level interaction. This creates an experience that impresses viewers in a bodily manner, prompting them to explore and understand how the objects are interconnected with the enveloping walls by moving around the sculpture. The juxtaposition of materials and colors also serves to produce this reaction: textured balsa wood against smooth formex surfaces, bright red against monotonous tones of black, white, and grey to guide the eyes. As viewers trace the floating shapes from left to right, their gaze is intentionally drawn to the central red forward-moving cuboid. This deliberate design choice mirrors Lissitzky's technique of guiding the viewer's eye and establishing focal points within his compositions.

Proun World represents a culmination of Lissitzky’s principles, translated into a contemporary 3D sculpture. The precise arrangement of geometric shapes, intersecting planes, and dynamic forms creates an engaging visual experience that pays homage to Lissitzky’s innovative work while offering my own interpretation.

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BibliographyBirnholz, Alan C. “Notes on the Chronology of El Lissitzky’s Proun Compositions.” The Art Bulletin 55, no. 3 (1973): 437–39. 
Birnholz, Alan C. “The Russian Avant-Garde and the Russian Tradition.” Art Journal 32, no. 2 (1972): 146.
Dukhan, Igor, and Christina Lodder. “Visual Geometry: El Lissitzky and the Establishment of Conceptions of  Space–Time in Avant-Garde Art.” Art in Translation 8, no. 2 (April 2, 2016): 194-2.                
Krauss, Rosalind E. “Analytic Space: Futurism and Constructivism.” Passages in Modern Sculpture. The MIT Press, 2007.
Levinger, Esther. “Art and Mathematics in the Thought of El Lissitzky: His Relationship to Suprematism and Constructivism.” Leonardo 22, no. 2 (1989): 227. 
Severinovich Malevich, Kazimir. The Non-Objective World: The Manifesto of Suprematism. 1927. Reprint, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2003.