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[CARICATURES FOR INNER CIRCULATION] Politika. 5 carricatures NR. [litografii perom.] [i.e. Politics. 5 caricatures by NR. Lithography]

Radlov, N.

Item #2061

Moscow: [Published by the author], 1922. 9 leaves 15×10,5 cm. Original hand-made wrapper, slightly soiled, but otherwise in very good condition. Likely produced in 1 copy only. As far as we could find out, the images have never been reproduced afterwards.

The album produced by Radlov in the year, when paper shortage was still an issue for the Soviet writers and illustrators.
Five lithography images included are “Politicus”, “Ladies. Political conversation", "Proletarian poet", "Genova", "Vserabis".
This album shows the development Radlov the caricaturist, which was one of his main occupations throughout his artistic career. Like many others, he has followed a natural route from being a contributor to ‘Noviy Satirikon’ to ‘Krokodil’ and was close to the founding circle of artists to the later periodical.
Radlov’s drawings were published in the magazines “Mukhomor” (1922), “Red Raven” and “Drezina” (1923), “Behemoth” and “Smekhach” in the early 1920s, when he has received the popularity in this genre.
In the 1930s his satires became more political and sharp, and in 1941 he has produced a few dozen TASS windows posters before tragically passing away next year. Comparing to his peers at TASS windows and ‘Krokodil’, his background was different – coming from Leningrad intelligentsia, son of the head of Imperial Library of Saint-Petersburg, he has built his career quickly as an
art critic and educator – in 1916 his monograph ‘Modern Russian Graphic Art’ was produced, with the subsequent edition next year, which still remains the best overview of the classic pre-Revolutionary art, and pays due respect to the emerging avant-garde movement.

Althouh Radlov’s own artistic views and techniques were much more traditional – he has found in the late 1920s the ‘Society of Painters’, with members like Sergei Pavlov, Olga Ostroumova-
Lebedeva, Isaak Brodsky, he has always been close to the avant-garde artists as well. Firstly, in teaching capacity – his workshop in 1920s was one of the most popular in Leningrad, people like
Vera Ermolaeva and Nikolay Akimov have studied there briefly, secondly, as an art critic. On one occasion he made a trip to Vitebsk to teach at the local art school, alongside Chagall and Lissitzky, on another he has criticized Tatlin heavily for trying to make ‘a log, painted in awful pink’ as an art object, which led to a public debate with Nikolay Punin on the essence of futurism.

This album is a great example of inner artistic process of Radlov – clearly intended for a close circle of friends or his eyes only, the images mock the subjects close to his life at the time. The album opens with a plate showing Ralov’s father Ernest Radlov (1854-1928), at the time the head of the State Library, in his boudoir crosslegged, with the different book spines visible on the background, and a ‘Pravda’ newspaper open in front of him. This was to represent the approval of the revolution by Radlov family, which made them a rare example within their circles. Another lithograph shows the portrait of a large gentleman with a cigar and a cat, titled ‘Proletarian poet’, in which one recognises Demian Bedny (1883-1945), one of the most popular and favored by Soviet authorities writers at the time. Although Radlov probably overlapped with Bedny in ‘Krokodil’, he was already on another level – Lenin’s friend, he has lived in Kremlin and maybe that is why on this picture he looks more like bourgeoisie from Radlov’s 1930s caricatures, than the portraits, printed alongside his verse at the time. The subject of another caricature is likely Anatoliy Lunacharskiy, pictured in Italy. Two group caricatures show to women engaging in political conversation and the three representatives of VSERABIS – the all-artist Union, that Radlov was a member of as well, by 1923 it had consisted on 30 000 members – the diversity in appearance of these members could be seen in this image.

Overall, an interesting and unique album of one of the most influential satirical artists of his time.

Price: $2,500.00