Pole Vault (Pryzhok s shestom)

Photography and Media

1936

Aleksandr Rodchenko
Russian, 1891–1956

Initially trained as painter and graphic designer, the Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko was inspired to turn to photography by German Dadaist collage. As a member of the Productivist group in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, he sought to make art that was socially and politically useful rather than purely theoretical or formal. Rodchenko believed his photographs of industrial urban environments, known for their dramatic angles and extreme close-ups, could revolutionize the way people saw the world, thereby helping to usher in the new era of the communist state.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Photography and Media

Artist: Aleksandr Mikhailovich Rodchenko
Title: Pole Vault (Pryzhok s shestom)
Place: Russia (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1936
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Inscriptions: Unmarked recto; stamped verso, lower left, in blue ink: "PHOTO [sideways] RODCHENKO [in a logo?]
Dimensions: 29.1 × 39.5 cm (11 1/2 × 15 9/16 in.)
Credit Line: Wirt D. Walker Endowment
Reference Number: 1989.486

Wolf, Sylvia. 1994. “Sights Unseen: Photographs from the Permanent Collection.” Exh. cat. The Art Institute of Chicago. n.pag.
Wood, James N. and Teri J. Edelstein. 1997. “The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide.” Publications Department of the Art Institute of Chicago. p 182.
Wood, James N. 2000. “Treasures from The Art Institute of Chicago.” Hudson Hills Press, Inc. p. 274.
Wood, James N. 2003. “The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide - Revised Edition.” Publications Department of the Art Institute of Chicago. p 182.

Art Institute of Chicago, “Sights Unseen: Photographs from the Permanent Collection,” October 16-March 13, 1994.
Art Institute of Chicago, “The Human Form Divine: The Body as Seen by the Camera,” February 8–June 1, 2003. (Colin Westerbeck)
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 10 Permanent Collection Rotation, November 3, 2012–February 6, 2013.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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