Born into an engineer's family
Vladimir Tatlin was born in Moscow on December 28, 1885. The boy's mother died when he was four and his father remarried. After the wedding the family moved to Kharkov. The boy could not come to love his stepmother; at 13 he ran away from home and signed on as a cabin boy aboard a ship bound for Istanbul.
Was expelled from art school for poor academic performance and bad behavior
A few years later Tatlin returned to Moscow and enrolled in the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. But he did not cope with his studies and in 1903 was expelled for poor academic performance and disrespect toward the authority of his teachers. After being expelled he entered the Odessa Naval School. Later he drew on his experience of seafaring and sea voyages in his work. Subsequently Tatlin received artistic training at the Penza Art School.
Was friends with the avant-garde artist Mikhail Larionov
It is believed that it was Tatlin's friendship with Larionov that influenced his artistic development and made him one of the leaders of the Russian avant-garde. Larionov introduced Tatlin to the creative groups 'Bubnovy Valet' (Jack of Diamonds), 'Osliny Khvost' (Donkey's Tail) and 'Mir Iskusstva' (World of Art), and acquainted the artist with the futurist poets. Through them Tatlin found an inspiring circle.
Visited Germany and France; visited Picasso's studio in Paris
It is not known for certain how Tatlin managed to get into Picasso's house. According to one version, the meeting was arranged by the avant-garde artist Marc Chagall. According to another, Tatlin sneaked into the master's house and found him at work in his studio. What he saw so impressed him that he regarded Picasso as his main teacher for the rest of his life.
In 1914 he invented a new direction in art — counter-relief
According to Tatlin, this kind of art, by breaking the process of passive reflection of nature, literally steps out into the world itself, turning into the construction of real three-dimensional objects.
The artist's most famous project — Tatlin's Tower or the Monument to the Third Communist International
Tatlin developed a design for a tower that reflected the new Soviet ideology and symbolized the reunification of humanity after the destruction of the Tower of Babel. In 1924, at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, Tatlin's project received a gold medal. Tatlin's Tower proved too bold for the Soviet leadership and was never built. However, the idea of the tower and its constructive elements were realized in the sets for many theatrical productions and in the design of festive demonstrations of those years.
He taught in Moscow, Petrograd, Kiev and Kharkov
In the course of his teaching activity Tatlin laid the foundations of industrial art. The artist believed that objects should be comfortable, functional and beautiful. Ideas about the functionality of items led Tatlin into design: he constructed furniture and created clothing and tableware.
Worked as a stage designer and illustrator
Tatlin designed productions of the operas 'The Flying Dutchman' and 'A Life for the Tsar', and in the play 'Zangezi', staged from the work of Velimir Khlebnikov, he took part as director and actor. In 1931 the artist was awarded the title of Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR. In the 1940s–1950s Tatlin worked on productions for the capital's theaters, as well as on book illustration and painting.
"The artist who died twenty years before his death"
This is how Vladimir Tatlin would be described later. Tatlin's large-scale, grandiose ideas were ahead of their time and found no echo with the Soviet authorities. The avant-garde and formalism flared up brightly and quickly burned out in the fire of the revolution, and socialist realism became the ideological course of art. In 1932 Tatlin held his first and only solo exhibition.
He died in his studio
Vladimir Tatlin passed away on May 31, 1953. The artist was buried in the columbarium of the Novodevichy Cemetery.
