Vladimir Tatlin

Vladimir Tatlin began his career under the spell of icon painting and naval carpentry before visiting Picasso's Paris studio in 1913. Picasso's cardboard guitar constructions inspired Tatlin to create 'corner-counter reliefs'—sculptures of iron, wood, glass, and wire suspended across the corners of rooms, breaking free from traditional pedestals.

Following the Russian Revolution, Tatlin designed his iconic 'Monument to the Third International' (Tatlin's Tower, 1919–1920). Conceived as a soaring 400-meter twin helix of steel and glass housing rotating legislative chambers, it became the supreme utopian symbol of Soviet Constructivism. In his later years, he spent a decade constructing the bird-like human glider 'Letatlin.'