Alexander Vesnin

{{Short description|Soviet architect (1883–1959)}}

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{{Infobox architect

| name = Alexander Vesnin

| image = A.Rodchenko 1924 portrait of A.Vesnin.jpg

| image_size = 140

| caption = Photo by Alexander Rodchenko, 1924 (fragment)

| nationality = Russian Empire, Soviet Union

| birth_date = 28 May 1883

| birth_place = Yuryevets, Kostroma Governorate, Russian Empire

| death_date = {{d-da|7 September 1959|28 May 1883}}

| death_place = Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

| alma_mater = Institute of Civil Engineers,
Saint Petersburg

| practice = Vesnin brothers

| significant_buildings = Dnieper Hydroelectric Station
ZiL Palace of Culture

| significant_projects =

| significant_design =

| awards =

}}

Alexander Aleksandrovich Vesnin ({{langx|ru|Александр Александрович Веснин}}; 28 May 1883 – 7 September 1959), together with his brothers Leonid and Viktor, was a leading light of Constructivist architecture.{{Cite book|title=Architecture of the Soviet avant-garde: In 2 books: B. 1: Formation problems. Masters and currents|last=Khan-Magomedov|first=S.O.|publisher=Stroyizdat|year=1996|location=Moscow}} He is best known for his meticulous perspectival drawings such as [http://vma.muar.ru/ru/objects/proekt-moskovskogo-otdeleniya-gazety-leningradskaya-pravda Leningrad Pravda] of 1924.

In addition to being an architect, he was a theatre designer and painter,{{Cite book|title=The Vesnin brothers|last=Chinyakov|first=A.G.|publisher=Stroyizdat|year=1970|location=Moscow}} frequently working with Lyubov Popova on designs for workers' festivals, and for the theatre of Tairov. He was one of the exhibitors in the pioneering Constructivist exhibition 5×5=25 in 1921. He was the head, along with Moisei Ginzburg, of the Constructivist OSA Group.{{Cite book|title=ASNOVA, OSA and INKHUK group. Creative trends, concepts and organizations of the Soviet avant-garde. Series of issues of VNIITAG No. 4|last=Khan-Magomedov|first=S.O.|publisher=VNIITAG|year=1994|location=Moscow}} Among the completed buildings designed by the Vesnin brothers in the later 1920s were department stores, a club for former Tsarist political prisoners as well as the Likachev Works Palace of Culture in Moscow. Vesnin was a vocal supporter of the works of Le Corbusier,{{Cite journal|last=Chinyakov|first=A.G.|date=1969|title=Le Corbusier and Vesnin Brothers|journal=Soviet Architecture|volume=18|pages=133–142}} and acclaimed his Tsentrosoyuz building as 'the best building constructed in Moscow for a century'. After the return to Classicism in the Soviet Union, Vesnin had no further major projects.

File:Alexander Vesnin Abstract Composition 1915c..jpg|Abstract Composition. 1915c. M.T. Abraham Foundation