19

joins the Communist party and becomes one of the key figures of the early Soviet avant-garde

18

87

born in Moscow as Aleksei Imberkh

14

participates in the Russian anarchist underground

Signature of Aleksei Gan.

 

Signature of Aleksei Gan

17

fights in World War I where he suffers a severe concussion, heightening his susceptibility to alcohol abuse

18

works in Moscow as a mass action organizer

Four constructivists at the table, drinking tea. From left to right: Shub, Rodchenko, Gan, Stepanova

20

Four constructivists at the table. From left to right: Esfir Shub, Alexander Rodchenko, Aleksei Gan, Varvara Stepanova, 1925.

21

elected president of the Soviet Inventors Association,

co-founds First Working Group of Constructivists along with Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova

22

publishes his Constructivism manifesto and designs a mobile book-selling kiosk

 

Aleksei Gan, 1924. Photo by Alexander Rodchenko.

 

 

Aleksei Gan on a motorbike

23

organizes a magazine on cinema and photo called Kino-Fot

 

Back cover of SA magazine, issues 5–6, 1926.

 

 

 

Back cover of Soviet Architecture (SA) magazine, issues 5–6, 1926

26

joins OSA, one of the Constructivist architectural movements, and begins to work on layouts of its magazine called SA

28

joins October, a multidisciplinary design movement combining the efforts of architects, painters, and film directors

Created with Sketch.

we declare uncompromising war on art. —aleksei gan

Advertisement made by Aleksei Gan and Alexander Rodchenko

Advertisement made by Aleksei Gan and Alexander Rodchenko, published in issue 11 of Engineering and Life magazine, 1925.

 

 

before the great war

Since his days as an anarchist youth Gan had a habit of hiding personal details of his life even from close friends, thus relatively little is known of his biography. Even his date of birth is uncertain—some claim 1893, others 1895, while most researchers have agreed on 1897. However, it is known that he was born to a family of Russian gentry of French origin, Mikhail Imberkh, and had five siblings.

According to Kristin Romberg, author of an influential thesis on Gan, in the early 1910’s he received an artistic education and later joined an underground anarchist movement, acting and singing in theaters as a cover.

Cover of Long Live to Demonstration of Living book written and designed by Aleksei Gan

Cover of Long Live to Demonstration of Living book written and designed by Aleksei Gan, 1923.

Created with Sketch.

[in design] there should be nothing random, uncontrolled, nothing based only on blind taste and aesthetic voluntarism. everything should be thought through, both technically and functionally. —aleksei gan

 

 

Poster dedicated to the First Exhibition of Modern Architecture designed by Aleksei Gan
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