Bookvica

[POSTER PROPAGANDA IN CLUBS AND READING ROOMS] Rabota s plakatom v klube i izbe-chital’ne [i.e. Work with a Poster in a Club and Reading Room]

Gushchin, A.

Moscow; Leningrad: Ogiz - Izogiz - Gos. izd-vo izobrazitel’nykh iskusstv, 1931. Item #1570

([Moskva]: «Internatsional’naya» tip.). 54, [2] pp.: ill. 13x18 cm. In original illustrated publisher’s wrappers. Loss of the tiny pieces of the spine, previous owner’s pen inscription on the front wrapper, wrappers slightly loose. Otherwise a very good copy.

Wrapper design by an unknown artist. Scarce. First and only edition of this interesting manual on the proper work with posters in the Soviet clubs and reading rooms.

The publication was written on the brink of a new era when all literary and art organizations were forced to follow severe restrictions of Socialist Realism. The poster, a vital instrument in the State’s quest to form a new Soviet man, was among the first to be subject to total ideological control.

In this edition, the author, a noted Soviet art historian Alexander Gushchin (1902-1950), provides interesting insights into the effective organization of the new Soviet poster propaganda in clubs and reading rooms. The book consists of three chapters. The first chapter defines the essence of the poster (a typical outcome of the Western-European capitalist culture with its anarchy of production…) and offers its brief historical overview both in the USSR and abroad. Despite the negative tone towards the pre-Soviet poster school, the author distinguishes three artists, Deni, Dmitriy Moore, and Mikhail Cheremnykh, and christens them as the trendsetters for the Soviet poster design. Guschin also remarks that the photomontage is the most common form of the agit-propaganda poster of the time. It is especially interesting because in a couple of months, the party adopted a decree On Poster Literature which restricted the technique of photomontage in posters’ production. The second section of the book covers the topic of the proper work with the poster and answers such questions as how to choose the right poster, what message the poster should convey, which colors and fonts should be used in a poster, where and how to hang posters, how the light should fall on the poster, how many posters should be in a room, etc. The last chapter is dedicated to the amateur posters and wall newspaper and how to make the most effective use of them.

The edition contains 10 black-and-white poster samples, including constructivist ones. Among the artists are Vladimir Mayakovsky, Dmitriy Moore, etc. It is important to note that the author refers to the posters of ROSTA Windows (1918-1920; a propagandistic medium of communication created by Mayakovsky, Moore, Ivan Malyutin, Mikhail Volpin, etc.) as the best example of effective poster work.

Worldcat shows 1 copy of the edition located in the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Price: $750.00

Status: On Hold