Architecture in transition
Introduction
Postconstructivism was a transitional architectural style that existed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, typical of pre-World War II Stalinist architecture. The term postconstructivism was coined by Selim Khan-Magomedov, an architectural historian, to describe the product of the migration of avant-garde artists to Stalinist neoclassicism. Khan-Magomedov identified postconstructivism with the years 1932-1936, but the long construction period and the enormous size of the country extended the period until 1941.
The existence of this style is evident, but Khan-Magomedov's explanation of its evolution as a natural process within the architectural community, and not as a result of the political direction of the Party and State, is much disputed.
Khan-Magomedov thesis
Contenido
Esta sección se basa en la obra de Khan-Magomedov Arquitectura de vanguardia soviética, vol. 1, "De la vanguardia al postconstructivismo y más allá".[1].
Context
In 1932-1933, during the competition for the Palace of Soviets, the State sent a clear message to architects: the era of experimentation was over and new buildings must follow the classical canon. At that time, the architectural profession was divided into three generations:.
• - Mature neoclassical architects (mostly in their fifties and sixties), such as Ivan Fomin, Alexey Shchusev and Ivan Zholtovsky. Their excellent training[Note 1] and experience led them to success in any style: Art Nouveau "Modernism (art)"), Neoclassicism and Constructivism.
• - A younger and more diverse avant-garde movement (in turn divided into rationalists "Rationalism (architecture)") and constructivists). With the exception of the Vesnin brothers, few constructivists had gained professional experience before the First World War; The war, the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War paralyzed any new construction for a decade (1914-1926). In 1927-1929, former theorists Nikolai Ladovsky, Moisei Ginzburg and Ilya Golosov withdrew from public debates and devoted themselves to practical construction and urban planning. In 1933, they had been in practice for no more than seven years and had just entered their own age of maturity.