Klucis: The Deconstruction of an Artist

Gustav Klucis (1895‒1938), one of the pioneers and major exponents of constructivism and photo collage, is also one of the most controversial figures in Latvian art. The son of peasants, he is perhaps the best known Latvian artist in the world. Ironically, art catalogues and textbooks call him a Russian artist, and in Latvia he is still largely regarded as some sort of “lost son”. Gustav Klucis's life and artistic career pose many questions still unanswered today. Who was he?
Was he a hero or a victim of his own political naivety? An idealist or a conformist? A patriot or a traitor to his homeland? Killed during the Stalin purges at the end of the 1930s, his name lives on in art history as one of the classics of Russian avant-garde art. This film will endeavour to “decipher” Klucis through his own artistic ideas.

Introduction by Karin Pastak