Alexander Rodchenko was a Russian painter, sculptor, designer, photographer, and major figure in Russian Constructivism active from 1891 to 1956. He was involved in politics throughout his life and experimented with various media, abandoning painting for advertising, book covers, and photography. Rodchenko strove for an objective, impersonal art devoid of narrative or spiritual elements, seeing art as an object that refers only to itself. His photography used unconventional angles and perspectives to depict motion and patterns in a mechanistic, socially progressive way.