I have long been fascinated by the Russian Constructivists, and the other artists from the early "heroic" era of Soviet Communism. What I like about these artists, at least in that particular period of their work, is the sense of purpose, and the possibility that they could make the world a bit better through their work. I would argue that far from being completely utopian, the Constructivists were striving to become deeply involved in the world around them, and working within the very restrictive economic circumstances of their times.

Tatlin is a case in point. He is best known for two "utopian" works, the plan for the Monument to the Third International and the Letatlin human-powered flying machine. However, Tatlin was not utopian in the same sense that Le Corbusier or Sant-Elia were. Rather than projecting plans for 200-storey cities made of vast amounts of concrete and steel, the Monument to the Third International (while still quite ambitious) shows some attention toward economy of materials -- fabicated principally out of girders and guywires, a technique that would have produced a structure of impressive size and integrity with a minimum of materials. The Letatlin, as well, shows quite a bit of economy in its construction, as well as a reliance on easily-available materials. And like his Constructivist colleagues in the early 1920s, Tatlin designed useful items such as work clothes and a stove, designed to be manufactured easily in spite of the scarcity of quality materials at the time.

Of course, the government of the Soviet Union didn't appreciate the Constructivist project -- as with totalitarianism everywhere, Soviet Communism's preferred style was a kind of aesthetically stunted neo-classicism. The flowering of art and design in early 20th-century Russia was not seen by the outside world again until it flickered briefly at the beginning of the Gorbachev years.

Here are a few links with information about Vladimir Tatlin:

• In Russian, there is a translator built in to the page [peoples.ru]
• [artcyclopedia.com]
• [greatbuildings.com]
• [artchive.com]
• [kmtspace.com]
• [northwestern.edu]
• Monument to the Third International [auburn.edu]
• Brief biography [artcult.com]
• More comprehensive, but still brief, biography [artnet.com]
• Wikipedia entry, on which the scholarship could be better but it is an encyclopedia after all [wikipedia.org]