Bookvica

[SERGEI SEN’KIN] Rabskii trud [i.e. Slave Labor]

Kronman, Ye.

Item #2109

Moscow: Izogiz, 1931. 32 pp.: ill. 26x18 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Some soiling on covers, spine and corners of covers slightly restored, otherwise mint. First and only edition. One of 5000 copies.

An early Soviet propaganda book collecting foreign artworks against capitalism.

Photomontage design for both covers and the innovative layout were created by Sergei Sen’kin (1894-1963), one of the prominent figures of Soviet propaganda art, representative of avant-garde and constructivism. Sen’kin has been an important link between suprematism and constructivism: he worked with Malevich and Lissitzky in Vitebsk and was a member of UNOVIS in 1921, but then he became one of the active members of the Left Front of Arts in Moscow, collaborating with Rodchenko, Mayakovsky and Stepanova. Sen’kin’s works resemble the style of Gustav Klutsis and show the same high level of skill. In 1919, they met each other at the Free State Art Workshops where both studied under K. Malevich. Soon artists started to work together and founded an experimental studio of
“new practical realism” which meant agitational art. Together with Lissitzky and Klutsis, Senkin designed the Soviet pavilion at the International Press Exhibition in Cologne (1928), contributed to the design of the Soviet pavilion at the 1939 New York World Exhibition. Although traditionally the early development of photomontage in the USSR is attributed to Klutsis, Sen’kin’s role shouldn’t be underestimated.
The book served as a rebuttal of attacks toward the Soviet forced labor system published in English sources. As a reply, this book showcased works by 14 foreign socialist artists. Among them are George Grosz, John Heartfield, Théophile Steinlen, Käthe Kollwitz, Frans Masereel, Rudolf Schlichter, et al. The book reproduces newspaper caricatures, engravings, posters, drawings, one painting, two photomontages and a photo of Scottsboro Boys. Racism against
African-American people is highlighted among general problems of the bourgeois world. One illustration combines newspaper headlines on lynching cases.
The visual propaganda is complemented by slogans, excerpts from press, provoking quotes.

Not found in Worldcat.

Status: On Hold