Search Results: Russian avant-garde from Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books

Octavo 18x12.4 cm, wrappers, 56pp. Very rare publication with little circulation which documents the activities of the Turkish Workers Theater in Baku. With photo illustrations of productions, actors, and staff. It sports a superb constructivist cover by BorR (Konstantin Georgievich Ramenskii (1900-1943), an important graphic and stage designer who worked in Tiflis, Moscow and Siberia and produced many iconic images of the Soviet era, especially in book covers. The Turkish Workers Theater began in the midst of civil war, staging agit-props to reach the minority speakers in Azerbaijan. It expanded from there, enriching both actors and audience to develop and offer new dramas conceived in their own language. It includes a list of the entire productions that the theater produced from 1921. OCLC locates no copies worldwide. This copy lacks the title page but is in exceptional condition otherwise; it is priced accordingly. Refs: Gruzii 10 let Zakkniga. Poety i pisateli SSSR. Literaturno-khudzhestvennyi… Read More

Octavo 18x13.5 cm., wrappers. 70 pp. The first edition of this epic work, published anonymously. Released in 5000 copies, Lenin was nonplussed, and dismissed Mayakovsky as "one of those Futurists" who he detested, and called it "hooligan communism." The poem had tremendous propagandistic effect, however, and proclaimed itself as Russia's Iliad. It was subsequently reprinted, translated into many languages, and has been a subject of study and exposition ever since. This copy fine.

Moscow-Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo, 1927 Octavo 17.5x13 cm., wrappers, 100 pp., The first and only edition of 3000 copies. The 1905 revolution made a profound impact on Pasternak, and he revisited it many times throughout his career. This is one of two long poems he had published in 1927, a reconstruction of his memories employing the events that lead to the revolution, "powerful but diffuse," which he worked on through 1926, and the other being Leitenant Shmidt, the leader of the Sevastopol rebellion. Rozanov 3585, Turchinskii S. 415. OCLC locates this work in 8 North American libraries. Cover with worn edges, light soil spot.

Moscow: Goduk, 1930 Quarto, wrappers, 94(2)pp.Progressive illustrated journal with covers and page design by the Stenberg brothers in their time at the helm of the art dept. The journal ran from 1925 to 1941. During the 1920s it was graced with experimental design, and was an outlet for creative types who didn t goad the authorities into suppression. Copies from this time found at MOMA, UC Berkeley and Univ of Chicago libraries. This copy near fine.

Moscow: Goduk, 1928 Quarto, wrappers, 101(4)pp. Contributors include Iuri Olesha, A. Bezymenskii, Lunacharskii, Koltsova, inter alia. Progressive illustrated journal with covers and page design by the Stenberg brothers in their time at the helm of the art dept. The journal ran from 1925 to 1941. During the 1920s it was graced with experimental design, and was an outlet for creative types who didn’t goad the authorities into suppression. Copies from this time found at MOMA, UC Berkeley and Univ of Chicago libraries.

Moscow: the author, 1924 Octavo, wrappers, 72pp. 2000 copies. 500 New Puns & Witticisms of Pushkin. Using shiftology (svidologiia), Kruchenykh demonstrates how sound shifting can alter meaning in poetry through lexicological references and cross associations, sometimes producing comic effects. Russian language permits such play and these devices have often been a hidden source of enjoyment and amazement in its poetic traditions. Fine. OCLC finds this in 12 North American institutions. MOMA 563

Moscow: MAF, 1923 Octavo18x13 cm., wrappers, 47(1)pp. The third in a series of tracts of the International Association of Futurists, this contains four essays on some of his major works, and focusing on futurist verse, with its focus on sonic and rhythmic shifts, assonance, nonsense, ingenious invention and humor. Includes a fine abstract drawing by Natalia Nagorskaia (1895-1983), who studied under A. Ekster and taught in Vkhutemas until being dismissed in 1925 as a social alien hostile to the Soviet regime. She moved to Novo Nikolaevsk and worked in Siberian ethnography with accomplishment. OCLC locates seven North American holdings. This copy near fine,with rear cover stamp; uncut signatures.

Kharkov: Proletarii, 1930 Octavo 17.5x12.8 cm., wrappers, 68pp. Moisei Efimovich Ravich-Cherkassky, pen name of Moisei Rabinovich (1884 - died after 1936), was a party activist in Ukraine, historian, and social scientist, who at one point worked for the Cheka. Initially an anarchist, he was a founding member of the CPU in Ukraine. He promoted Yiddish avant-garde and modernism in Ukraine and held high positions in literary institutions in Kharkov until 1935 when he was arrested for Trotskyism and disappeared in the gulag. The current work is a sympathetic exploration of the history and philosophical underpinnings of anarchism, especially as it flourished in pre-1917 Russia. This copy fine.

(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… Read More

Octavo 21x14,5 cm., original wrappers, 236(4) pp. 4000 copies. Casimir Edschmid (Eduard Schmid, 1890-1966) was a travel writer of liberal views who was suppressed in 1933 and became an inner émigré during the Reich. This is a translation of Basken, Stiere, Araber from 1927 describing Spain and Morocco. Cover and book design by Faik Tagirov (1906-1978), Tatar designer who studied under Vladimir Favorskii at Vkhutemas from 1925 and was actively engaged with Agit-prop through the 1920s. He employed photomontage and geometric abstraction and was featured in the 1925 Paris Exposition of Decorative Arts. From the 1930s he taught theory and practice of font design at ONSh (Moscow Polygraphic Institute), where he worked to standardize Cyrillic and shift Tatar script from Arabic among other feats. The present work is an exciting Constructivist page design with dynamic markings to enhance and sustain the reader s attention. OCLC finds two institutional holdings worldwide (Getty, Biblioteca Nacional de Espana).

Moscow-Leningrad: Kinopechat', 1926 Octavo 15x11 cm., wrappers, 16pp. Glavlit 57077. Photomontage by Konstantin Vialov. Essay on Buster Keaton, famous silent film actor. Text by Sergei Gekht. Vialov is often attributed as author. OCLC finds this in three North American libraries. Very good+ condition. 300

Octavo 22.3x16 cm., original illustrated wrappers with a lithograph by Olga Rozanova. 22 leaves. This polemical work by Kruchenykh sneers at the preoccupations of Russian writers such as Dostoyevsky and Lermontov with the theme of the devil and demons and how Russian literature has been saved by Futurism. Kruchenykh, perhaps unsurprisingly, cites his own works ('Half Alive' and 'A Game in Hell') as examples of the correct approach to any treatment of the devil and demons in literature. The cover lithograph by Rozanova is a particularly gruesome image of a demon with sharp teeth biting off the head of an infant. A very nice, crisp copy with a striking lithograph by Rozanova. MOMA 41, Getty 354.

Moscow: Kinopechat', 1923 12mo, wrappers, 4pp. Unattributed cover. Glavlit 63735. A promotional pamphlet. Chaplin directed A Woman of Paris in 1923. Rare, with two North American library holdings (LOC, Smithsonian)

Paris: ARS, 1930 Quarto, wrappers, 20pp., 18 plates. 210 copies, this unnumbered. Kliment Nikolaevich Redko (1897-1956) studied under Aleksandra Ekster and worked in a suprematist mode and fully engaged in the avant-garde, which included working in the early revolutionary era and decorating streets with agit-prop elements. Later he spent 7 years in Paris evolving from a modernist to quasi impressionist before returning to the USSR, where he merged into soviet realism. OCLC finds this in 7 North American libraries.

Moscow-Leningrad: Ogiz-Izogiz, 1932 Octavo 17 x 17.5 cm., wrappers, 108(1) pp. The collection was compiled in 1930 by a student group examining the architecture of workers clubs at the State Academy of Art. Edited by David Efimovich Arkin (1899 1957), art historian, critic and historian of architecture, fine and industrial arts. Worker Clubs were viewed as an essential place to develop proletarian culture from the outset and over 7000 clubs were built in the first three decades of the USSR. Initially indistinguishable from the upper-class clubs of the pre-revolution, by 1925 they provided some of the most exciting design opportunities for social experiment and were a unique contribution in the history of Constructivist architecture, and the boldest experiments were realized. The most original are by Mel'nikov and Il'ia Golosov. Each building is accompanied by an essay from various authors (Alekseeva,M.A. Il'in, V.S.Kemenov, M.V. Alpatov, F/S. Roginskaia, A.V. Filippov, D.M. Aranovich, Natalia… Read More

Quarto 22.5x18.5 cm, clothbound, unpag., 26 leaves. Getty 84, Hellyer 40. Two of the most important works by symbolist poet Aleksandr Blok, with six ink drawings and a tailpiece by Mikhail Larionov and two works by Natalia Goncharova. The Twelve was Blok s response to the Revolution. He employed a new, coarser and violent language in it and alienated many of his fans used to his refined symbolism. In The Scythians he invoked the power of the Revolution to transform the world and asked the outside world to join it. Despite the departure from Blokian language which brought him pre-revolutionary fame, these two poems today are his most widely circulated. This is the first émigré edition in Russian, printed in July 1920. A French translation released in April by Povolosvky's Le Cible of that year had seven drawings done from pencil by Larionov, and a third edition combined images from both printings. All three versions were published by Povolovsky. This copy without original wrappers, rebound in cloth.… Read More

Moscow: Izd-vo Mosoblispolkoma, 1931 Oblong octavo 17.5x24.5 cm., wrappers, 56pp. This series appeared in three parts, with the second and third numbers in the present issue. These were design entries for The Palace of The Soviets, initially conceived in 1922 by condemning the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It invited an international competition, and drew on many luminaries of modernist design and over 160 entries were submitted, from avant-gardists to Neoclassicists. The first series illustrates the international entries and numbers 2-3 are from Soviet architects. All eventually were rejected in favor of a design by Boris Iofan with additions by Shchukov and Gelfreikh with Stalinist pretensions; even that lay dormant until groundbreaking in 1939 and lower walls erected, but war changed everything and after decades of neglect finally the space was rebuilt as The Cathedral from 1995 to 2000. No versions of the Palace ever achieved realization. Here we have 16 design entries including three from… Read More

Moscow-Leningrad: Kinopechat', 1926 Octavo 15x11 cm., wappers, 16pp. Double number for child actors Jackie Coogan (1914-1984) and Baby Peggy (Diana Serry Carry 1918-2020) with biographical sketches for each. Front and rear photomontage covers by E.G.(Evgenii Goldshteyn). Glavlit 61136. Glavlit 61136. Worldcat finds five North American library holdings. A very fine copy.

Moscow-Leningrad: Kinopechat', 1926 Small octavo 14x8x11.5 cm., wrappers, 16pp. Photocollage cover designs by Petr Galadzhev . Special issue dedicated to Sergei Eisenstein and Battleship Potemkin. The first two essays by Viktor Shklovsky and Lev Kuleshov on Sergey Eisenstein; the third is on filing techniques used during the shooting of Battleship Potemkin film by his cameraman Eduard Tisse. Constructivist cover design by Petr Galadzhev with the photo of Eisenstein on front cover and montage of stills from the Battleship Potemkin on rear cover. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (1898 1948) film director and film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, is noted for his silent films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958). Battleship Potemkin presents a dramatized version of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 when the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against… Read More

Moscow: Kinopechat', 1926 Octavo 14,5x11,5 cm., wrappers, 14pp. 15000 copies. Cover and book design by Konstantin Vialov. Emil Jannings (1884-1950) German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first Oscar recipient, honored with the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 1929 ceremony, the only German ever to have won that award. He is best known for his collaborations with F. W. Murnau and Josef von Sternberg, including 1930's The Blue Angel. Four North American institutional holdings. Glavlit 63794. This copy fine.