Rayonism

レイヨニスム / 1912–1914 / Style / Avant-garde

A Russian abstraction that declared its subject to be not objects themselves but the crossing of light rays reflected from them. Sharp diagonal bundles of lines intersect, dissolving the object into an interference pattern of light. It marked the point where Russian abstraction broke away from Cubism.

Rayonism — Mikhail Larionov, Rayonism, Red and Blue (Beach), 1911 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Mikhail Larionov, Rayonism, Red and Blue (Beach), 1911 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Rayonism — Natalia Goncharova, Rayonist Lilies, 1913 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Natalia Goncharova, Rayonist Lilies, 1913 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Rayonism — Natalia Goncharova, Cats, 1913 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Natalia Goncharova, Cats, 1913 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

Sharp bundles of diagonal lines
Planes formed where lines intersect
Disappearance of the object's contour
Layering of a restricted palette

Best used for

Drawing invisible phenomena such as speed or radio waves as bundles of crossing lines
Covers and backgrounds that leave only a trace of the subject without ever depicting it

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Dictionary entry

Type: Sharp, angular display type set on the diagonal, almost absorbed into the ray structure
Composition: Assume a light source outside the frame, cross sharp shafts, planes only where they meet
Material: A few translucent colors layered over a dark or neutral ground, densest where they cross
Caution: Drawing the object and adding rays on top leaves contours beneath the lines and the dissolution into light fails, and rays that never build planes at their crossings stay mere diagonal decoration.
Further study: Larionov's Rayonist manifesto / The relationship with Neo-primitivism / The lineage of Russian abstraction

Related entries

Suprematism (シュプレマティスム)Shared effects: Calm / Exhilaration.Compare Rayonism and Suprematism
Italian Futurism (イタリア未来派)Same Avant-garde lineage.Compare Rayonism and Italian Futurism

Cite this entry

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