Artist: El Lissitzky (Russian, 1890-1941). Title: "Proun". Medium: Gouache and pencil on paper. Date: Composed 1922. Dimensions: Overall size: 14 1/8 x 10 3/4 in. (359 x 273 mm). Lot Note(s): Signed lower right. Painted on cream wove paper. Very good to fine condition; affixed to a very thin and supple archival acid-free support sheet. Comment(s): In 1920 Lissitzky coined the term “Proun”—an acronym for the Russian words meaning “project for the affirmation of the new”—to refer to a series of abstract works that combined the Suprematist lexicon of geometric, monochromatic forms with tools of architectural rendering. Lazar Markovich Lissitzky was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer, polemicist, and architect. He was an important figure of the Russian avant garde, helping develop suprematism with his mentor, Kazimir Malevich, and designing numerous exhibition displays and propaganda works for the former Soviet Union. His work greatly influenced the Bauhaus and constructivist movements, and he experimented with production techniques and stylistic devices that would go on to dominate 20th-century graphic design. The present drawing being offered in our auction is no longer under copyright and the image is in the public domain. [29920-3-8000]