lissitzky's entire career was laced with the belief that the artist could be an agent for change, later summarized with his edict, "zielbewußte Schaffen" (goal-oriented creation). he began his career illustrating yiddish children's books in an effort to promote jewish culture in russia, a country that was undergoing massive change at the time and that had just repealed its anti-semitic laws.
over the years, he taught in a variety of positions, schools, and artistic media, spreading and exchanging ideas. he worked with malevich in heading the suprematist art group UNOVIS, when he developed a variant suprematist series of his own. in 1921 he took up a job as the russian cultural ambassador to weimar germany, working with and influencing important figures of the bauhaus.
some works by lissitzky.