The work belongs to Hans Mattis-Teutsch’s constructivist period. According to the art historian Gheorghe Vida, constructivism was assimilated by Mattis-Teutsch at the time of his involvement in the Romanian avant-garde during the 1920s and at the beginning of the 1930s (Vida 2009, 80). During this period, Mattis-Teutsch collaborated closely with groups of avant-garde artists formed around the cultural publications Contimporanul, Integral and Alge, sharing the artistic vision of these groups, as well as their socialist views. His artistic vision marked by constructivism was theorised in his work Kunstideologie. Stabilität und Aktivität im Kunstwerk published in interwar Germany (Mattis-Teutsch 1931). This vision, which sees art as a “messenger” of the “new man” in the “technological era without traditions,” is marked by the mobility and rhythm of modern life (Mattis-Teutsch 1977, 76–79). The work and rhythms specific to modern man are also central themes in this painting from the end of the 1920s, and the title of the work is a direct reference to the relationship between intellectuals and the proletariat in Marxist ideology. As with all the works of Hans Mattis-Teutsch created during the interwar period, this item could not be displayed during the 1950s due to the fact that the avant-garde techniques were in contradiction with socialist realism.
Mattis-Teutsch, Hans. 1931. Kunstideologie: Stabilität und Aktivität im Kunstwerk. Potsdam: Müller u. J. Kiepenheuer Verlag.
Mattis-Teutsch, Hans. 1977. Kunstideologie: Stabilität und Aktivität im Kunstwerk (second edition). Bucureşti: Kriterion Verlag.
Vida, Mariana, and Gheorghe Vida. 2001. “Mattis-Teutsch und die rumänische Avantgarde.” In Mattis-Teutsch und Der Blaue Reiter, edited by Éva Bajkay, 83–97. München: Haus der Kunst.
Vida, Gheorghe. 2009. “Hans Mattis-Teutsch şi dialogul european al formelor.” (Hans Mattis-Teutsch and the European dialogue of forms). In Mattis-Teutsch, artist al avangardei (Mattis-Teutsch, artist of the avant-garde), edited by Radu Popica and Anca Maria Zamfir, 71–82. Braşov: Muzeul de Artă Braşov, pp. 71–82.
Popica, Radu, interview by Pintilescu, Corneliu, February 13, 2018. COURAGE Registry Oral History Collection
