The Influence of German Tubular Steel on Soviet Furniture at the VKhUTEMAS, 1927–1930

Abstract

Abstract This article looks at the influence of German tubular steel furniture at the State Higher Art and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS) in Moscow during the late 1920s. Tubular steel furniture was first introduced in 1925 at the Bauhaus and within a few years was perceived by progressive architects across Europe as the appropriate material for the modernist interior. While the Soviet Union sought to revive its industrial economy during the New Economic Policy (1921–28), VKhUTEMAS students and professors looked to Europe for technical and artistic guidance for the design of new furniture as the country became a socialist society. German design innovations reached Moscow through the dissemination of print material, international exhibitions, and travel, including student exchanges between the Bauhaus and VKhUTEMAS. Between 1927–30 VKhUTEMAS students Boris Zemliannitsyn and Alexandr Galaktionov designed new furniture that referenced German tubular steel furniture, while professors El Lissitzky and Moisei Ginzburg replicated German tubular steel designs in their models and renditions of standard proletariat dwellings. Although the Soviet economy could not support widespread steel manufacturing, the experimentation with tubular steel furniture at VKhUTEMAS highlighted the international influence of German modernism and exposed the derivative nature of Soviet socialist material culture.