A Hub Between East and West
Constructivism and the New Vision in the 1920s

In the early 1920s Berlin became a cultural hub between East and West, a meeting place for artists from Germany, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe. They shared a commitment to a modern, abstract art founded on rational construction, not subjective emotion. Geometric shapes, strong colours and industrial materials celebrated the aesthetic of a new age. Influenced by revolutionary ideas from Russia, some artists saw themselves as engineers. Berlin’s First Russian Art Exhibition at Galerie van Diemen in 1922 introduced the city to constructivism.

The 1920s also brought a movement in photography that no longer tried to imitate reality. These New Vision photographers developed their own artistic styles and challenged habitual ways of seeing. They stopped pursuing the standards set for painters and instead consciously exploited their technology in unconventional and experimental ways.