Constructivism

Alexander Rodchenko, 1925 Photograph on Gelatin Silver Print

This black and white image shows a man climbing a ladder which is seemingly attatched to the side of a building. However the perspective in which the photo is taken from is the main feature of this image that brings up uncertainties. It is hard to tell exactly where the image is taken from on initial viewing, it could have been taken from a low vantage point, Rodchenko possibly being on the floor and looking up at the ladder and towards the man in the image. On the other hand it also could be taken in a way where he has also climbed the ladder himself, being high up off the groud, and have swung the camera around to the other side of the ladder to take the image; although I would doubt this due to the such tight composition of the image - the way the parrallel lines of the ladder are so perfectly set at each corner of the image and meet in the middle, makes me think that Rodchenko would have had to look through the viewfinder to achieve such accuracy. An article I came across on this website brings more explanation to these questions;

'Rodchenko’s camera of choice was the new lightweight Leica. It enabled him to take pictures without having to use a tripod and without having to frame the image while looking down into a viewfinder at stomach level (the Leica, he said, put paid for good to “tummy-button composition”). He used the freedom it gave him to frame unfamiliar, vertiginous views – long looks up, dizzying looks down. Having an innately emblematic frame of mind he found symbols of the brave new world of Soviet Russia in his own new ways of seeing. Gazing up at the rungs of a fire escape from the bottom of an apartment building in Moscow, he sees a new Jacob’s ladder, a Soviet stairway to heaven which anyone can climb.'

This unusual viewpoint is typical of the constructivism movement as it gives an unsettling effect to the viewer as Rodchenko has not provided any view of a floor or footing from which the image is taken, and also no face of the man can be seen. The effect of this leaves the viewer feeling disorientated from such a surreal viewpoint. This feature also gives the image an again, typically Constructivism style 2D flattening effect to the image. The lines and angles of the flat surface of the building, along with the washed out sky in the background show that Rodchenko has purposely made no attempt to show sculptural elements in the image. Personally I think this effect works well, especially after staring at the image for a while, which leaves you with a feeling of confusion towards the image. 

Rodchenko has also sucessfully shown the relationship between the person and buildings, another element which Constructivism sets out to achieve. The man holding onto the ladder shows a vital relationship between man and construction, in that the ladder itself is keeping him safe and preventing him from falling yet enables him to reach further up the building.