The term was introduced by Franz Seiwert in 1929 using the phrase "gegenständlichen constructive", and this was subsequently taken up by Gerd Arntz and then by art historians more generally.
[2] In October 1929 Seiwert, Heinrich Hoerle and Walter Stern produced the first issue of A bis Z, subtitled "organ of the progressive artists group".
It featured five artists from four towns: Seiwert and Hoerle (Cologne), Augustin Tschinkel (Prague), Peter Alma (Amsterdam) and Arntz (Vienna).
[1] Tschinkel and Alma were both colleagues of Arntz at the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum run by Otto Neurath in Vienna.
[1] The Figurative constructivist approach was adopted by Ivan Ivanitsky of Lenizogiz in Moscow.