Russian Avant-garde from Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books

Octavo 16.5x12 cm., wrappers, 32pp. Cover design by Iosif Solomonovich Shkol'nik (1882-1926), a theater artist and painter who worked closely with Filonov and is part of the unknown avant-garde artists of the era. His style fits right into the esthetic of the Segodnia workshop group, which was founded or supported in part by Lunacharsky, and his speech given here was… Read more about this item

Octavo, original wrappers, 258 (3) pp. The first edition of this work that inspired Constructivist thought and esthetics. Erenburg wrote this set of satirical stories using one of the pipes from his collection. Cover design by Liubov' Kozintseva (1898-1978). The cover design for this first edition is iconic. Erenburg's essay with striking cover had a great impact in Poland… Read more about this item

Octavo 18x13 cm., wrappers, 228 (5) pp. Erenburg wrote this set of satirical stories using one of the pipes from his collection Cover design by Liubov' Kozintsova or Kozintseva (1898-1978) wife of Erenburg. She studied under Aleksandra Ekster, Robert Falk and Rodchenko and exhibited in Berlin, participating in the 1st Russian art exhibition, in Der Sturm Gallery and the left… Read more about this item

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… Read more about this item

Octavo 19.8x13.5 cm., wrappers, 200pp. Solomon Telingater, front and rear cover and page design, with a photocollage on rear cover and vignettes with photos and drawings on the chapter title pages. This work presents two dozen essays characterizing class enemies --- Western politicians and leading personalities, with Pope Pius blessing them and flanked by police and armed guards. The photocollage… Read more about this item

Octavo 19.5x14 cm., decorated boards, 127pp. Two-color photomontage cover by N. Pinus (Natalia Sergeevna Bukharova, 1901-1980). Pinus studied at VKhUTEMAS-VKhUTEIN and was a member of the Artists Union of the USSR. She is best known for her powerful agit-prop posters. She devoted her later life to painting. Along with Valentina Kulagina, she was among the top of the Soviet women… Read more about this item

Octavo 20x14cm., original decorated cloth, 176pp., 10000 copies. Book design with 8 double-sided photgravures by Solomon Telingater. "The Five-Year Plan" is a major poem. The author Semen Kirsanov (1906-1972) established the Southern Association of Futurists as a teenage poet, and apprenticed under Mayakovsky and Aseev. He was a strong promoter and member of LEF, and felt that he had inherited… Read more about this item

Octavo 17.5x13 cm., wrappers, 95pp. An epic poem written from 1923-1924. Mayakovsky felt very close to Lenin and took his death quite personally. Parts of it appeared in literary journals and even newspapers in the year prior to its release. The poem was recited publicly numerous times over the following year. It was met with great enthusiasm by the listening… Read more about this item

All quartos 30x23 cm., ca. 5000 copies. Sovetskaia arkhitektura was a preeminent architectural journal for its life of four years, spearheading the most advanced ideas in Constructivist building and urban design. Each number includes an essay by Miliutin. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Miliutin (1889-1942) was an architect and Bolshevik activist. He was very influential in developing Soviet architectural and urban design, as… Read more about this item

All quartos 30x23 cm., ca. 5000 copies. Sovetskaia arkhitektura was a preeminent architectural journal for its life of four years, spearheading the most advanced ideas in Constructivist building and urban design. Each number includes an essay by Miliutin. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Miliutin (1889-1942) was an architect and Bolshevik activist. He was very influential in developing Soviet architectural and urban design, as… Read more about this item

(Moscow Under Reconstruction, an Album of Diagrams, Topograms, and Photography of the Reconstruction of the City of Moscow) Square Quarto 33.4x34 cm., embossed cloth, 256pp., profusely illustrated with maps, foldouts, and visual schematics. Text by Viktor Shklovskii, art and book design by Aleksandr Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova. Photography by Georgii Zelma, Georgii Pretrusov, E. Langman, Ia.Khalip, E. Baldyrev. Includes plans and… Read more about this item

Quarto 25x18 cm., embossed cloth, 56pp., 5200 copies. Dust wrapper and cover design by L. Smolianskii. Kirsanov's nickel-plated mechanical man can sing, dance, fight, work in the factory, even compose verse. Karl Capek's R.U.R. gave birth to the notion of robot in 1920, and the poet draws freely from that source to bring to Soviet readers. Semën Kirsanov (1906-1972), born… Read more about this item

Quarto 23.5x16 cm., wrappers, 179 pp. 3000 copies. Cover, full-page and vignettes by Aleksandra Ekster. Ekster collaborated with the director for the 1921 production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which met with great success. This copy very good with spine wear.

Octavo 15xx10,5 cm., 14 pp. leporello. A photographic guidebook of old and new structures in Moscow's historic district, with some remarkable photomontage work to dramatize visual effect. Interior photos highlight factory work and production. This guidebook was designed and assembled by Aleksandr Rodchenko. A rarity, very scarce.

Octavo 20x14 cm., wrappers, (4) pp. A brochure issued by the Magazine and Newspaper Association addressed to Bolsheviks titled, "For the Bolshevik, Ideology and High Skills in All Types of Art," with a list of open subscriptions for recommended reading in Soviet art, theater, film, literary gazettes, and literary heritage. --- All in a classic Constructivist page format designed by… Read more about this item

Octavo 21.4x14 cm., original wrappers, 104 pp. 3000 copies. Full-cover design by El Lissitzky. Mayakovsky wrote this poem as his contribution to the tenth anniversary of the Revolution. It is a long poem, epical and didactic, aimed at mass readership to learn of the forces that brought the Revolution about and a heroic depiction of the triumph of the proletariat.… Read more about this item

Quarto 23.5x18 cm., wrappers, 14 leaves. Sketches made by Al'tman while working on a sculpture portrait of the leader. Ten North American institutional holdings. Getty 11, MOMA 331. This copy VG+.

Octavo 20x13.5 cm., decorated boards, 238 pp. 3000 copies. Cover design by Aleksandr Rodchenko. Nikolai Aseev (1889-1963) was a Futurist and later revolutionary romantic poet, who was also an important theoretician of poetics. Getty 35,

Large octavo 22.3x18 cm., wrappers, 39 pp. Superb cover photomontage by Georgii Stenberg. The cover incorporates photos of the four poets in this collection by Moisei Nappel'baum. This is the second collection of poetry issued by the Imazhinisty. The Imaginists were a group of poets founded with Esenin in 1919. Esenin left the group in 1922 and their strength… Read more about this item

Large octavo 22.6x15.5 cm., stiff wrappers, 36pp. Photocollage cover design by Anton Lavinskii (1893-1968). A novella. Osip M. Brik (1888-1945) was a writer and literary critic who identified with the Futurists and the avant-garde. He was a founder of IZO Narkompos and wrote screenplays. He was close to and promoted the work of Rodchenko. He famously shared his marriage bed… Read more about this item