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[ARCHITECTURAL EVOLUTION OF THE 1920s] Puti arkhitekturnoi mysli. 1917-1932 [i.e. Ways of Architectural Thought. 1917-1932]

Khiger, R.I.

Item #2079

Moscow: Izogiz, 1933. 144 pp.: ill., 2 ill. 13x10 cm. In original printed wrappers. Near fine condition. From the series «Library of the ‘Art’ Magazine» edited by O.M. Beskin.

Very rare.

This book is a brilliant richly illustrated compilation on 1920-30s art and architecture with a focus on constructivism. With a folding plate of a final design The Palace of the Soviets (this was one of the first images accessible to the public). Roman Khiger (1901-1985) was a Soviet architecture critic, architect and engineer, one of the ideologists of constructivism. In 1930s he was one of the leading architecture critics in USSR.
In 1928 he on his own initiative wrote an article «On the Matter of Constructivism Ideology in Modern Architecture» and brought it to the well known magazine ‘Sovremennaia Arkhitektura’ (i.e. Modern Architecture). In that article he enunciated principles of constructivism and gave harsh response to its critics. The article was published and Khiger was hired and later became a deputy to Vesnin and Ginsburg on the editorial board. He was the first to professionally characterize and describe Melnikov and Golosov’s art, remarkable architects of 1920s constructivism whose names were little known until 1980s.
This edition is divided into sections: period of romanticism and symbolism, formalism, constructivism and functionalism, neoclassicism and eclecticism, proletarian architecture, problems and perspectives of a near future. With almost 30 black and white architecture designs and photos. Among them are designs by Vesnin brothers, Golosov, Shchuko, Shchusev, Fomin, Golosov, Leonidov, and some other distinguished architects.

Price: $500.00