born Dec. 16, 1885, Kharkov, Russian Empire
died May 31, 1953, Moscow, U.S.S.R.
Ukrainian sculptor and painter.
After a visit to Paris (1914), he became the leader of a group of Moscow artists who sought to apply engineering techniques to sculpture construction, a movement that developed into Constructivism . He pioneered the use of iron, glass, wood, and wire in nonrepresentational constructions. His Monument to the Third International , commissioned by the Soviet government, was one of the first buildings conceived entirely in abstract terms and was intended to be, at more than 1,300 ft (400 m), the world's tallest structure. A model was exhibited at the 1920 Soviet Congress, but the government disapproved of nonfigurative art and it was never built. After 1933 Tatlin worked largely as a stage designer.