Page 33 - The MoMA/ Guggenheim issue of World of Art magazine (2001)

MoMA The Museum of Moder Art New York

period. The books will be displayed design with great optimism to
in special vitrines and will allow for reach the masses. In both paintings
viewing of both front and back covers. and printed treatises, Malevich
Innovative mountings will display pushed abstraction to its limit in
books in upright positions and multiple his development of suprematism,
copies of books will be open to various conceived as a metaphysical visual
pages. Computer animations will metaphor for heralding the new
allow for viewing several of the most world. Aleksandr Rodchenko and El
important examples in their entirety. Lissitzky were major artistic voices in
In addition, a reading area will allow the development of Constructivism,
visitors to consult facsimile copies of which focused on the rational and
many of the books. machine-made and came to symbolize
a new future. Typography became an
It is widely recognized that Russian important aspect of Constructivism,
avant-garde artists’ experimentation often combined with bold black and
was fundamental to the development red abstract designs. Poets such as
of abstraction in the early years of this Vladimir Mayakovsky, who was also
century. The 1917 Revolution brought an artist, played an integral role in
about a complete transformation of the interdisciplinary development
the artist’s role in Russian society with of illustrated books during this
utilitarianism defining the new cultural period. Photography was also a
climate. The exhibition is organized primary vehicle of communication,
established the collection in the 1940s around three major themes: and photomontage dominated many
with her donation of 1,600 prints. covers and illustrations.
The Rothschild gift represents all the A slap in the face of Public Taste
significant artistic developments of the The first section is titled after an early Building socialism: Agitation Art
period and features works by major manifesto by artists and poets, in The final section of the exhibition
artists including Kazimir Malevich, which they responded to what they presents the variety of ways the
Olga Rozanova, Natalia Goncharova, considered the stultifying conventions art of the book was used to serve
El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, of academic taste and bourgeois the soviet government’s agenda.
and many others. It also encompasses sensibility. Natalia Goncharova, Journals showcased modern soviet
areas of special interest to members Mikhail Larionov, Olga Rozanova, architecture with covers of bold
of the Russian avant-garde, including Kazimir Malevich, among others, graphic design.
children’s books and Judaica. This collaborated with writers and poets, Trade catalogues promoted
comprehensive resource has been including Aleksei Kruchenykh, Velimir soviet industry with innovative
characterized by experts in the field as Khlebnikov, and Vasilii Kamenskii, to layouts and typographical design.
among the most significant collections forge a new language of abstraction Magazines designed by avant-garde
of its kind worldwide. through experimentation with Cubo- artists utilized photography and
The Rothschild gift joins over 400 futurism, Primitivism, and Rayonism. photomontage to spread the message
works from the Russian avant-garde Many of these poets and painters of soviet modernization and progress
period already in the Museum’s practiced both mediums, and most to the broadest possible audience.
collections of painting and sculpture, were friends, siblings, or spouses; Innovative works by Lissitzky and
drawings, photography, film, collaboration on books was one Rodchenko, as well as by other artists
architecture and design, prints and important result of this creative including Varvara stepanova, solomon
illustrated books, as well as the library. ferment. Early books were intended Telingater, Gustav Klutsis and the
MoMA’s founding director, Alfred to shock the reader with variously stenberg brothers, demonstrate a
H. Barr, Jr., initiated the Museum’s sized pages made of coarse papers, continued experimentation with the
interest in this crucial period in the illustrations entwined with printed, book format. The exhibition ends with
history of modern art. hand-written, and rubber-stamped text, the notorious 1934 decree by stalin
as well as provocative covers. that only socialist Realism would be
The Russian Avant-Garde Book, 1910-1 tolerated. Thus, a remarkable period
934 features 300 books and is the Transform the World! of innovation in the production of
most comprehensive exhibition ever The second section expands on illustrated books came to a close.
devoted exclusively to the illustrated the developments of the earlier
book during this enormously creative period. Artists turned to book

WORLD of ART 31