Alexander Rodchenko. Photography is an Art
This book is to mark the 115th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Rodchenko. It consists of two parts, «Creative Experiment» and «Photo Reportage». Rodchenko introduced Constructivist ideology into photography and developed methods and instruments for applying it. The devices discovered by him spread rapidly. The master created a new style — constructive, sharpangled photography.
We must foster people’s love of photography to ensure that photos are collected and photo libraries and exhibitions organised on a grand scale. We must set up an International Photographic Exhibition instead of all these so-called salons. We must bring out photo newspapers and photo books. Photography has every right and deserves to be treated with due attention and respect, as an art of the modern day.
31 October 1934
The revolution in photography is that thanks to «how» they were taken photographed facts have acted so strongly and unexpectedly with the full force specific to photography, that they have been able not only to compete with painting, but to show everyone a new and perfect way of revealing the world within the science, technology and everyday life of modern mankind.
Alexander Rodchenko. A Warning. 1928
And photo reportage is regarded as something inferior in photography. But thanks to magazine and newspaper competition and to real, necessary work that has to be photographed at any cost, in any lighting and from any angle, this applied and inferior thing has brought about a revolution in photography.
Alexander Rodchenko. The Paths of Contemporary Photography. 1928
