Vkhutemas - Lenin's Visit

Lenin's Visit

Vladimir Lenin signed a decree to create the school although its emphasis was on art rather than Marxism. Three months after its founding, on 25 February 1921, Lenin went to Vkhutemas to visit the daughter of Inessa Armand and to converse with the students, where in a discussion about art he found an affinity among them for Futurism. There he first viewed avant garde art, such as suprematist painting and he did not wholly approve of it, expressing concern over the connection between the student's art and politics. After the discussion, he was accepting and stated, "Well, tastes differ" and "I am an old man".

Although Lenin was not an enthusiast for avant garde art, the Vkhutemas faculty and students made projects to honor him and further his politics. Ivan Leonidov's final project at Vkhutemas was his design for a Lenin Institute of Librarianship. Vladimir Tatlin's Monument to the Third International was built by students and displayed at their workshop in Saint Petersburg. Furthermore, Lenin's Mausoleum was designed by faculty member Aleksey Shchusev. Alexei Gan's book Constructivism, published in 1922, provided a theoretical link between the new emerging art and contemporary politics, connecting constructivism with the revolution, and Marxism. The founding decree included a statement that students have an "obligatory education in political literacy and the fundamentals of the communist world view on all courses". These examples help justify the school's projects in terms of the early political requirements but others would arise throughout the school's existence.