Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935
April — July 2012
Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin Germany

Richard Pare’s photography from The Lost Vanguard (exhibited at Lumière in April of 2009), was on view at Martin Gropius Bau, in Berlin Germany, April 5 – July 9, 2012. For more specific information on this past exhibition, SELECT HERE.

The exhibition, Building The Revolution, came to Berlin directly from London’s Royal Academy of Art where it received numerous positive reviews; The Guardian, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, London Review of Books, Evening Standard, Oxford Times, London Confidential, to name just a few, (Oct 2011 – Jan 2012).

This exhibition explored one of the most exceptional periods in the history of architecture, from the years just prior to the October Revolution until the foundation of the U.S.S.R. First shown in 2007 at The Museum of Modern Art (NY), this work is an important contribution to the history of both photography and architecture. The flamboyant age of Russian modernity, in the 15 years following the October 1917 Revolution, was hardly recognized before it came to an abrupt end. After the fall of the communist experiment in 1991, structures employing modernist era design and construction methods were rapidly disappearing. In a short period of time nearly a quarter of the buildings that were to have been protected were razed or disfigured. Richard Pare, a master photographer and curator of architectural photography, developed this body of work to record these interior and exterior designs before they succumbed to redevelopment.

“Richard Pare’s (work) opens windows onto the substantially unknown architectural manifestations of a period characterized by unprecedented artistic, social and cultural flights of imagination.” – Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director, Canadian Centre for Architecture

A promotional video for the exhibition, (please note: audio is in German).

2:34 – video length
Richard Pare’s artist page

The Lost Vanguard: An exceptional photographic exploration of Russian modernist architecture. Pare’s decade long project brilliantly records innovative interior and exterior designs. It carried him from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Kiev, the Ukraine and the Baltic Sea resort of Sochi. One of the highlights of the exhibition were his photographs of the Melnikov House, listen to his comments on this architectural treasure.

4:06 – video length
Richard Pare’s artist page

Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture 1915-1935
October 2011 – January 2012
London’s, Royal Academy of Arts – Sackler Wing of Galleries

Richard Pare’s work from The Lost Vanguard was previously on view at the Royal Academy of Arts. For more specific information on this past exhibition, SELECT HERE, a review from The Guardian can be SEEN HERE, (links open new windows).

Richard Pare comments on the Shabolovka Radio Tower

THE LOST VANGUARD – This exhibition explored one of the most exceptional periods in the history of architecture, from the years just prior to the October Revolution until the foundation of the U.S.S.R. First shown in 2007 at The Museum of Modern Art (NY), this work is an important contribution to the history of both photography and architecture. The flamboyant age of Russian modernity, in the 15 years following the October 1917 Revolution, was hardly recognized before it came to an abrupt end. After the fall of the communist experiment in 1991, structures employing modernist era design and construction methods were rapidly disappearing. In a short period of time nearly a quarter of the buildings that were to have been protected were razed or disfigured. Richard Pare, a master photographer and curator of architectural photography, developed this body of work to record these interior and exterior designs before they succumbed to redevelopment.

“Richard Pare’s (work) opens windows onto the substantially unknown architectural manifestations of a period characterized by unprecedented artistic, social and cultural flights of imagination.” – Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director, Canadian Centre for Architecture

Below is an excerpt of a review from the Creative Loafing.
To read the entire review please access the the Creative Loafing web site.

DATE: April 16, 2009
PUBLICATION: Creative Loafing
BYLINE: Jeremy Abernathy
TITLE: Photographer Contemplates a Lost Vanguard at Lumière

EXHIBITION : “Richard Pare – The Lost Vanguard”

Richard Pare became enamored with modernism at an early age. The son of an artist and teacher, Pare studied graphic design and photography in the U.K. before earning his MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago. During his 15 years at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, he amassed a sizable collection of architectural photography and, in the process, solidified artist contacts in Russia starting in the mid-’90s. Pare’s research on Russian modernism, architecture, and his photographs during numerous field trips abroad are the subject of his book, Lost Vanguard: Soviet Modernist Architecture, 1922-1932, as well as his newest photo exhibition at Lumière Gallery in Peachtree Hills. The opening reception is tonight, April 16 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

In his interview with World Socialist Web, Pare describes the process by which many buildings were constructed in Russia during the early 20th century: During fallow periods, in winter and the time between seedtime and harvest, peasants went into the cities to do construction work in what was an ongoing tradition long before the revolution. Contemporary photographs show scaffolding made up of great baulks of timber that is so cumbersome, and yet it is quite beautiful. What they did with such primitive means is amazing.

As techniques became more sophisticated, Russian architecture achieved a surprising variety and grace to rival the West. The photo above, which resembles Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous layout for the Guggenheim Museum, was actually “a communal house for officers of the Cheka (secret police), built as the result of a closed competition.” Viewed from above, the plan as a whole describes a hammer and sickle, extended “by a star motif in the reinforced concrete beams at the head of the staircase of the communal block.”