LISSITZKY, El

Born in Smolensk, Russia, Lissitzky studied engineering in Germany before returning to Russia during World War I. After collaborating with Marc Chagall (1887–1985) on the illustration of Jewish books and with Kazimir Malevich in establishing Russian Constructivism, Lissitzky moved to Berlin, where he published The Story of Two Squares (1922), which, as its title says, is a pioneering abstract visual fiction, as well as a modest masterpiece of modern typography. Lissitzky then finished...