Bookvica

[NEW ABSTRACT ART] Realistichesky manifest [i.e. The Realistic Manifesto]

Item #1247

Moscow: 2ya Gosudarstvennnaya tipografiya, 1920. 80x55 cm. Restored, the fragment of the text is lost because the poster was originally folded.
Extremely rare. The poster was printed for the outdoor exhibition of artists Gabo, Pevsner and Klutsis and hung on the Tverskoy boulevard in Moscow in the August of 1920. Despite its name the manifesto was determined to form the concepts of the new abstract art that was getting its inspiration from reality.
The three young artists have all ended up becoming influential figures in the world of avant-garde. Naum Gabo (1890-1977) was Jewish, Russian and American artist, sculptor and architect, art theorist, one of the leaders of the world avant-garde art. Belonging to constructivism, became one of the pioneers of kinetic art. Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1973). He also taught at Vkhutemas in the 1920s. Antoine Pevsner (1884-1962), the brother of Naum, was the founder of kinetic art and alongside his brother was developing the principles of abstract urban sculpture. He moved to France soon after this manifesto was produced and lived most of his life there. Gustav Klutsis (1895-1938), the pioneer of photomontage, arguably the most important poster designer of the Soviet 1930s, has revolutionized the visual arts of the book and periodical design in the pre-war years in the USSR. He was executed by the regime in 1938.
The trio came out with a sharp ‘‘The Realistic Manifesto’’ against Cubism and Futurism, defending the idea of «depth» as the unity of space and time, movement and mass, but rejecting line, volume and color as purely external, «pictorial» elements.
Unlikely survival of its time, the manifest was printed on the paper of poor quality and was set to be hung on the boulevard during the exhibition. The print-run is likely to be in dozens of copies.

Sold