Arkhitekturnye fantazii.: 101 kompozitsiia v kraskakh, 101 arkhitekturnaia miniatiura, ispolneny pri uchastii D. Kampanitsyna i E. Pavlova.

(Architectural Fantasies. 101 Compositions in Color, 101 Architectural Miniatures, Realized with the Participation of D. Kompanitsyn and E. Pavlova.) Quarto 30.5x21.5 cm., embossed cloth, 102pp., 214 letterpress illustrations, of which 101 are full page color plates hors text, and 113 black and white in text, released in 3000 copies. Iakov Chernikhov (1889-1951) is known for his theoretical works which are encapsulated in the books he published from 1927 to 1933. As an architect, very few of his conceptions were realized and he spent most of his life in teaching positions at design institutes throughout his professional life. The present work is acknowledged to be the last publication of avant-garde design in Stalinist Russia. It is an amazing feat, with 101 color plates of visionary drawings executed by the author and two design assistants. It also contains numerous black & white renderings, equally remarkable in daring and scope. This work, a statement of publishing excellence and daring architectural vision appeared in spite of the narrowing options left for designers under increased Party dictated strictures. They would soon jell into the dreary Neoclassicism that pervaded the USSR under Stalin. Chernikhov was censured soon after the book's release. One later work, The Construction of Letter Forms, appeared posthumously in 1959. As a working contemporary with Soviet designers, Chernikhov had a great interest in Futurism, Constructivism, and a real affinity with Suprematism; he was a friend of Malevich. But he was too much of an individual with many visual concerns and dimensions to explore to be subsumed into a school other than his own. He emphasized that design must start with pure abstraction. Many of the architectural fantasies in this book are sheer exercises in pure form. These were meant to serve for the bases of extraordinary structures, most beyond the technology of the day for realization. These and other Chernikhov designs have inspired architects and designers starting in the 1980s when there was a reevaluation of Constructivism and Suprematism in Post-modernist circles and individual design pioneers which continue to the present day. Senkevich 205, MOMA 1022 This copy with slight spine fading, else fine; highly collectible.