Lissitzky, El(iezer) Markovich. Born in 1890 in the province of Smolensk, in Polschinok, Russia. Studied engineering in Darmstadt and architecture in Moscow. Teaches architecture and graphic design in the Vitebsk School of Art, invited by the current director Marc Chagall.
In 1919 he meets Malevitch who had recently established the canons for Suprematism. Even if initially he was close to Cubism, Lissitzky moves away from its figurative nature and takes as his role to invent an art that can be as unpersonal as the produce of a machine.
From his contact with Chagall and Malevitch, he adopts Construtivism and elaborates the principles and theoretic models for this movement: abstraction and functionality. Under the influence of Malevitch he becomes a member of the UNOVIS, the Soviet Institute of Art.
Still in 1919 he starts a series of paintings with abstract geometric compositions that he names PROUN.
In 1923, during a stay in Berlin he meets László Moholy-Nagy, another of the founders of Constructivism.
Being one of the predecessors of Modern Graphic Design and of the New Typography, his work is incredibly eclectic, ranging from Graphic Design and Typography to Photography and Photo-Montage.