Klutsis, Gustav Gustavovich (Klucis, Gustavs)

Gustav Klutsis is considered the foremost artist of Soviet photomontage. Born in the Russian Empire near the town of modern-day Ruiena, Latvia, Klutsis attended the State Art School in Riga from 1913 to 1915 and then moved to Petrograd (St. Petersburg) prior to the October Revolution. During the revolution, he joined a volunteer rifle regiment that helped overturn the Tsarist regime. After the revolution, the artist continued his studies at OPKh (Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts) in Petrograd.

In 1918, Klutsis was sent to Moscow to serve as a guard in the Kremlin. That year, he participated in the exhibition of art by members of the workshop of the Ninth Guard's Regiment. While in Moscow, he enrolled in Ilya Mashkov's studio to further his artistic studies. From 1919 to 1920, Klutsis attended the SVOMAS (Free State Art Studios) that became VKhUTEMAS (Higher Art and Technical Studios) while he was enrolled. Credited as the birthplace of Soviet Constructivism, VKhUTEMAS afforded Klutsis the opportunity to experiment with photomontage design-- an artistic element that influenced his later work. In 1920, the artist became a member of the Communist Party.

In 1921, Klutsis married his artistic colleague, Valentina Kulagina and the couple had a son. Kulagina had been enrolled in SVOMAS/ VKhUTEMAS where she obtained a background in graphic design. While achieving modest success through her collaboration with Klutsis, after his death, Kulagina became an important poster artist and graphic designer in her own right.

During the 1920s, Klutsis was a well-known artist in the Soviet Union. His notoriety likely helped him acquire a teaching position in the Woodwork and Metalwork Department of VKhUTEMAS from 1924 to 1930. In 1925, he organized the artwork for the Soviet Pavilion at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. Between 1922 to 1925, Klutsis contributed designs to leading Soviet art magazines such as LEF, October, and Izofront. From 1928 to 1932, he was a member of the Oktiabr' (October) artists group, and from 1929 to 1932, Klutsis was a presiding member of the Artists of Revolutionary Posters.

By the 1930s, Klutsis was considered the foremost artist of photomontage design. His quality and output could only be rivaled by Lazar “El” Lissitzky and Alexandr Rodchenko, two contemporary artists working during the same period in the Soviet Union.

Soviet authorities accused Gustav Klutsis of joining a counter-revolutionary, fascist organization, and he was arrested in January 1938. Reportedly, he died in 1944 while serving time in a Soviet labor camp. Published sources from post-Soviet Russia place his year of his death as 1938. The artist's family learned of his death in 1956 when information was released to them by the authorities. The artist's official arrest report was not given to the family until 1989.