El Lissitzky

Also: ALTMAN, NATHAN B. MORDECAI · El Lisitski · Lazar Lissitzky · Lisickij, El · Lisickij, Eliezer Markovič · Lisickij, L. M. · Lisickij, Lazar Markovic · Lisickij, Lazar' M.

(1890–1941), abstract artist and theorist, graphic designer, architect, typographer, photographer, and propagandist. El (Lazar [Eleazar] Markovich) Lissitzky was born in Pochinok, near Smolensk, Russia, and died in Moscow. He chose his name in imitation of El Greco and to affirm his new artistic identity. His artistic career can be divided into three overlapping periods: (1) Jewish, from 1915 to 1923; (2) Suprematist, from 1919 to the early 1920s; and (3) Stalinist, in the 1930s. The following overview emphasizes his first period, when he participated intensively in the Jewish art renaissance