The Russian Avant Garde Book, 1910-1934

by Wye, Deborah

• ISBN13: 9780870700071
• ISBN10: 0870700073
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc

Summary

Russian avant-garde books made between 1910 and 1934 reflect a vivid and tumultuous period in that nation's history that had ramifications for art, society and politics. The early books, with their variously sized pages of coarse paper, illustrations entwined with printed, handwritten and stamped texts, and provocative covers, were intended to shock academic conventions and bourgeois sensibilities. After the 1917 Revolution, books appeared with optimistic designs and photomontage meant to reach the masses and symbolize a rational, machine-led future. Later books showcased modern Soviet architecture and industry in the service of the government's agenda. Major artists adopted the book format during these two decades. They include Natalia Goncharova, El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Olga Rozanova, the Stenberg brothers, Varvara Stepanova and others. These artists often collaborated with poets, who created their own transrational language to accompany the imaginative illustrations. Three major artistic movements, Futurism, Suprematism and Constructivism, that developed during this period in painting and sculpture also found their echo in the book format. This publication accompanied an exhibition of Russian avant-garde books at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. All of the books in the exhibition and this publication are part of a gift to the Museum from The Judith Rothschild Foundation.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 6
Donor's Statement	p. 7
Art Issues/Book Issues: An Overview	p. 10
A Game in Hell, hard work in heaven: Deconstructing the Canon in Russian Futurist Books	p. 24
Primitivism in Russian Futurist Book Design 1910-14	p. 33
Kruchenykh contra Gutenberg	p. 41
Constructivist Book Design: Shaping the Proletarian Conscience	p. 50
Plates	p. 61
Checklist	p. 249
Selected Bibliography	p. 285
Index	p. 290
Acknowledgments	p. 301
Trustees of The Museum of Modern Art	p. 303
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.