Alexandr Rodchenko, Krisis.

Materials

This work is influenced by Dadaism, so It's likely done in the same method which is by cutting out pictures paper and sticking them together with other images to create a new context. So I'd say the materials are Glue, paper and the ink from printing, which would've been of a lower quality at the time due to the technology and would've only been in black and white predominantly, since colored printing was still a developing technology in it's infancy.

Composition

Alexandr Rodchenko had been criticized and kicked out of a group known as the October group due to him being a 'formalist' who took composition, planning and structure very seriously in his work. So I'd say that the composition is very thought out and considered, with the explosion being fairly centered with there being almost a symmetry with two planes in the sky and people falling out of the planes / being blown away by the bomb being fairly symmetrical as well, with there being asymmetry in my opinion to make it not look too artificial. but some for, of compositional balance has clearly been considered.

Use of Text and Image

This work uses some images the artist took and other images that the artist found which are dated to the 1920s. The images are all in black and white, but this may very well be due to technical limitations, none the less it gives the image a bleak, depressing look. The images of people could be interpreted in two ways. While it's clearly influenced by Dadaism and that should mean it meant to be mocking and humorous. The context of this likely being influenced in some art by the Russian civil war and the idea these could be trying to show us that these everyday basic people, pictured alive and well. Happy and oblivious to peril are now dead. So it could be interpreted as dark or light hearted. I'm leaning more towards the bleaker interpretation.

Use of Photography and Illustration

The photos used, especially the skyline and the planes in my opinion gives some authenticity to the image, like it's meant to be a warning that has some facts behind it. It makes me wonder what planes those are, where are they bombing? what city? why that city? unlike some random square or made up plane design or something to symbolize a plane, an actual image of a specific plane does have some extra power when used properly to conjure questions.

Readership and Audience For Both

The audience is the Russian people. They're both about the same thing for the most part, different looks on it, by very similar artists who were both Bolshevik-supporters.

'Beat the whites' is pro-Bolshevik propaganda during the civil war to give morale to the communist factions and demoralize the White army Supporters. It's in favor of destruction of the white army. I could argue that it calls for violence with it literally being a depiction of a red, sharp object penetrating a white circle. But that is certainly up for debate.

The other one, Krisis was made after the war in 1923, the war having ended in December of 1922. So it could be a post war denunciation of bombings by the white army or by the Bolsheviks, but to my understanding; the Bolsheviks did not have that sort of military infrastructure, but the white army and their allies, being official state-ran militaries did certainly have that sort of technology. Looking into the war planes of the time, I reckon there's a chance they may be non-war planes. they do not have mounted machine guns like the planes of that period had, do not have 2 layers of wings and so could very well be small commercial planes from a newspaper the artist had found. Which could open up the possibility of it being an insult of capitalism.

The audience is capitalists to change their minds in theory. but more practically these are works which communist Bolsheviks can rally behind and agree with.