The Topography of Typography

El Lissitzky (1890-1941) was a Russian painter, typographer and designer, at one time exclusively centred on Jewish themes and culture. He took part in Semyon Ansky's ethnographical expedition to explore Jewish culture in the Pale of Settlement and illustrated Yiddish books. In 1919, March Chagall, at the time director of the People's art School in Vitebsk, invited Lissitzky to teach architecture and graphics there. While there, Lissitzky abandoned figurative art for Suprematism, which advocated the supremacy of geometric form over representation.