Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge

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Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge

1919

by El Lissitzky

Original Size: 23 x 19 in litograph This famous piece by El Lissitzky shows the influence of the new avant garde modernist art movements on early Soviet propaganda. There is in fact a clear political message behind this design. When the revolution took place in Russia in 1917, it did not mean that the Soviet Union with its many components was immediatly formed. A civil war erupted between the communists, the reds, and the royalists supporting the old regime, the whites. With that in mind, this becomes a stylized battle plan for the communist victory, rather than just some abstract geometric design.