Sheep magazine archive 1: issues 3-9

NEWMAN
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IN THE VICTORY
OVER THE SUN
El Lissitzky
1923
John Milner writes:
‘El Lissitky’s New Man recalls Leonardo da
Vinci’s Universal Man, the recurring image
passed down from classical times, of a
figure constructed within the square and the
circle, representing mankind’s relation to
geometry, the intellect, and his place in the
universe. El Lissitzky’s New Man has legs
and arms that are based on logarithmic
curves, and he explodes with energy, as a
confident sign for a new world.’
El Lissitzky wrote that: ‘In front of you is
a fragment of a work that originated in
Moscow in 1920–21. Here, as in all my
works, my aim is not to reform something
that already exists but to bring something
else into existence. Nobody pays any
attention to the magnificent spectacle of
our streets, for each is in the play himself.
Every bit of energy is employed for a
specific purpose. The whole is amorphous.
All energies must be organised into a unity,
crystallized, and put on show. In this way a
work is produced. It may be called a work
of art. We are constructing a stage on a
square, which is open and accessible. That
is the machinery of the show. This stage
offers the bodies in play all the possibilities
of movement. Therefore its individual parts
must be capable of being shifted, revolved,
extended, and so on. It must be possible to
change over from one elevation to another
quickly. Everything is rib construction so that
bodies circulating in the play will not be
masked. The bodies themselves are each
designed as occasion and volition demand.’
43
JANUARY 2016