Oil Paint
Oil paint is a slow-drying art medium made with pigment and a drying-oil binder that allows extended working time, smooth blending, and layered application.
Painter
El Lissitzky
El Lissitzky was a Russian artist, architect, and designer whose Proun compositions united geometric painting, collage, and architectural ideas.
El Lissitzky quick facts
The Proun works cross the boundary between painting, relief, and architectural projection. Proun 19D combines actual paint with paper and other materials on plywood; related Proun lithographs are prints, not painted originals.
| Born | 1890 · Pochinok, Smolensk region, Russian Empire |
|---|---|
| Died | 1941 · Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Movements | Constructivism · Suprematism |
| Paint types | Oil paint · metallic paint in Proun 19D · gouache in a 1923 Proun study |
| Painting surfaces | Plywood for Proun 19D · paper for gouache studies; additional pasted papers are collage components |
| Painting methods | Combined oil, metallic paint, gesso, varnish, crayon, foil, and layered paper on plywood; used gouache and graphite in separate paper studies |
| Common subjects | Floating geometric volumes, diagonals, planes, perspective shifts, and imagined architectural space |
| Notable works | Proun 19D (1920 or 1921) · Proun R.V. (étude) (1923) · 1. Kestnermappe Proun (1923, lithographic portfolio) |
Sources: MoMA: Proun 19D, Centre Pompidou: Proun R.V. (étude), National Galleries of Scotland: Proun lithograph, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza: El Lissitzky.
Paint types used
MoMA catalogues Proun 19D as a mixed-media work with oil, metallic paint, gesso, varnish, crayon, paper, and foil on plywood. Centre Pompidou records the separate Proun R.V. study as gouache and graphite on paper. These media must not be generalized to all Prouns.
Metallic Paint
Metallic paint contains reflective particles that create a metal-like shimmer or sheen, with preparation and durability depending on the exact coating formula.
Gouache Paint
Gouache paint is an opaque, water-based art medium made with pigment and a water-soluble binder, drying to a matte finish that can be reactivated with water.
Surface types used
The paint-bearing support of Proun 19D is plywood, with cardboard and other papers pasted over it. The 1923 Proun study is on paper. Printed Proun portfolios are not examples of paintings on paper.
Plywood
Plywood is an engineered wood panel made from bonded veneer layers with alternating grain, and its faces, edges, and filled areas absorb paint differently.
Paper
Paper is an absorbent sheet material made from pressed fibers, with weight, sizing, and surface texture controlling moisture tolerance and paint behavior.
Painters similar to El Lissitzky
Rodchenko similarly explored constructed visual space and design beyond painting, while Malevich's Suprematist vocabulary helped shape Lissitzky's Proun compositions.
Aleksandr Rodchenko
Aleksandr Rodchenko was a Russian avant-garde artist who experimented with geometric oil paintings, textured black-on-black canvases, and radical monochromes before concentrating on design and photography.
Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich was a Kyiv-born avant-garde painter who founded Suprematism, reducing painting to geometric shapes, color, and the texture of oil on canvas.