Before he spearheaded an entirely new modern art movement, Vladimir Tatlin was a pretty run-of-the-mill guy.

What does Tatlin have in common with Julia Child, Samuel L. Jackson, and Vincent van Gogh? No, they’re not all Communists. They’re all late bloomers who didn’t “make it” in their respective crafts until later in life. Prior to Constructivism, Tatlin’s artwork was nothing to write home about. In fact, much of his early work was largely considered unsuccessful. By age twenty-nine, he had dropped out of art school and was still failing to have any of his paintings gain entry into the elite salons in Moscow.

In his early years, Tatlin was many things. As an artist, he trained early on as an icon painter. This training would have been formulaic, teaching Tatlin to paint in an easily understandable manner so that he could communicate very particular messages with his images. He was also influenced by Russian folk art, particularly peasant woodcuts. His artistic training reflected his humble upbringing. As is hinted in this self-portrait, Tatlin was a sailor who traveled the world as a merchant sea cadet until 1915. These trips beyond his home country helped open Tatlin’s eyes to new ideas.

Tatlin caught the travel bug and started to explore the world on his own time, as well. In 1914, Tatlin visited Berlin and Paris, where Picasso’s Cubist paintings and sculptural constructions changed him forever. Tatlin began to make his own constructions and started to develop his signature beliefs that art should be utilitarian, easily understood, and rational. Just like his view of art, it’s easy to see that Tatlin didn’t really have grand visions of himself, either. He looks like a pretty ordinary sailor in his self-portrait. Although, if I met this guy during Fleet Week, I’d be game.

The fortuitous Picasso studio visit set Tatlin in motion to become the leader of a group that would come to be known as the Constructivists. Although his foundational ideas mirrored the social revolution that Vladimir Lenin was setting into motion with the Bolshevik party, Tatlin was not as radical as some of his Communist counterparts. Unlike Lyubov Popova, who fully embraced Communism despite her wealthy upbringing, Tatlin was not a die-hard, and came to eventually reject being labeled Constructivists. He continued to identify more with the Russian peasantry throughout his life, just as he had in his younger years, resisting the workers’ uniforms that the Bolsheviks proudly wore and proudly wearing peasants' clothes instead.