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[KIRILL ZDANEVICH] Grdemli: Ork’vireuli suratebiani zhurnali [i.e. The Anvil: a bimonthly illustrated journal] N7

Item #2167

Tbilisi: 4th print shop of united publishers, 1923. 32 pp. 29x22 cm.

1 of 3000 copies produced. Original illustrated wrappers by Kirill Zdanevich. Few tears to the spine, otherwise very good and clean. Unrestored.

Zdanevich has created one of the most iconic wrappers of Georgian Modernism for this issue. He also has contributed one caricature and two headpieces inside the issue. There are also articles on Lado Gudiashvili (signed T.T., likely Titsian Tabidze) and Georg Gross with the reproductions of their works. Apart from it, the issue includes the photos of towns of Abastumani, Borjomi and Tsahveri, showing among other things early Soviet architecture and street decorations

“Grdemli” was a journal published by The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia and The Georgian Trade Union Council. There were seven issues in 1923 before it was closed. This publication served as a meeting point of the right and the left wings of art. Edited by the famous Georgian writer, Pavle Sakvarelidze (1885–1937), “Grdemli” included work by such prominent Soviet authors as Alio Mashashvili, Petre Samsonidze (1898–1937), Iona Vakeli, Noe Zomleteli (1880– 1938), Shalva Karmeli (1899–1923), Simon Chikovani, and others. The journal also featured short stories and poems by various foreign writers: Émile Verhaeren, Henri Auguste Barbier, Heinrich Heine, Ada Negri etc. While the first issues of the journal lacked any artistic merit, issues #6 and #7 featured remarkable wrapper designs by Irakli Gamrekeli and Kirill Zdanevich. Among the most notable visual components of the periodical were the caricatures it featured. In an abundance of illustrations by Irakli Gamrekeli, Lado Gudiashvili, Kirill Zdanevich, Oskar Shmerling (1863– 1938) and George Grosz (1893–1959), special attention should be paid to the Blue Horns caricature poking fun at the representatives of Georgian futurism, symbolism and mysticism Interestingly, the cartoon was drawn by Kirill Zdanevich. Less than a year after “Grdemli” ceased publication, two of its contributors, Irakli Gamrekeli and Simon Chikovani, became the ideological leaders of the futurist almanac “H2SO4”. The printforms from the same print shop of Sogomonyan and Sutchiyan were used for “H2SO4” as for this issue.

Price: $6,500.00