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[CONSTRUCTIVIST ARCHITECTURE] Sovremennaia arkhitektura = Architektur der Gegenwart = L’Architecture contemporaine [i.e. Contemporary Architecture] #5 for 1930

Item #2238

Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1930. [24] pp.: ill. size. In original constructivist wrappers. Spine is slightly chipped, a bit of foxing on the upper side of the wrapper, corner of the wrapper chipped, but present. Overall a good copy. Faded period signature above the number 5 on the front wrapper.

One of 4000 copies.
One issue of the early Soviet magazine “Sovremennaia arkhitektura” (SA). In all, 27 issues were published in 1926-1930. The periodical became a tribune of the Association of Contemporary Architects (OSA). Founded in 1925 by members of LEF, the association promoted the use of the advanced designs and materials, the standardization and industrialization of construction. Among the editors and contributors of the magazine were A. Vesnin, V. Vesnin, M. Ginzburg, R. Khiger, A. Gan and other young constructivists.
This issue opens with a project by Ivan Leonidov chairing “a discussion on Palaces of Culture”. A Palace of Culture was supposed to be built instead of Simonov Monastery in Moscow. Emerged in the 14th century, it was one of the richest monasteries in Russia. The monastery was closed by the Bolsheviks in 1923, and soon thereafter most of its buildings were demolished.
The disputes that occurred around this discussion in the press, institutes and gatherings focused mainly on Leonidov’s project, ultimately turned into terrifying attacks against the architect. The editorial board advocates him but not “his harebrained followers” who repeated separate pieces of Leonidov’s works without conscious thought. Apart from his project, three collective works were published: a trio of Kalikin, Rogailov, Shmidt, VKHUTEIN brigade (Alexandrov, Bogdanov, Kuznetsov, Kuz’min, Maximov, Samarin), LIGI brigade (Zhukovsky, Kniazev, Makletsova, Rubanenko, Fromzel’).
The issue contains 11 photographs of the newly constructed Narkomfin building by Moisei Ginzburg and Ignatii Milinis. The photographs illustrate the article “Defence of Communal Socialism” by sociologist, town planner and Constructivist architectural theorist, Mikhail Okhitovich (1896-1937). He gained fame for disurbanist proposals that he raises in this article.

Worldcat shows copies of this issue located in Columbia, Stanford, North Carolina, Princeton, Arizona, John Hopkins, New York Universities.

Price: $650.00