Bookvica

[CONSTRUCTIVIST COVER COLLECTION, PUT TOGETHER IN 1920s] Eristavi, Giorgiy. Collections of wrappers from books and periodicals of 1890-1920s. In Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, German and English

Item #2357

[Tbilisi, 1928 and earlier]. 63 pieces mounted on 24 leaves. Album used is a hand-made one, using the thick paper of outline maps and possibly wallpapers. 37x26,6 cm. In later cloth protective folder, ornamented with the examples of the design from the collection. Few wrappers are re-mounted on the newer leaves, as the original ones were falling apart.

A unique survival of the time - the collection, put together by an artist Giorgiy Eristavi (1891-1982), an important theatrical designer of 1910-1920s, of book and wrapper covers, which he cut out and glued in this hand-made album. Apart from the covers, two of the project designs are included, of the flags for ‘Moscow Region Textile Union’ (circa 1924) and one piece of advertisement for the paper company Sokol (1923, by Sergei Chekhonin).

About the collection:
Put together clearly in 1920s using the wrappers, available to the artist in the local shops and collections. A few pages have period inscriptions of other Georgian personalities: that includes Akakiy
Papava (Georgian journalist, emigrated in 1922, so the inscription must have been made prior), Nikolay Severov, Ermaloz Burchaladze. The selection of the titles themselves clearly have the design leitmotif rather than any topic: Eristavi likely was collecting the examples of the wrappers he liked. The topics of the titles represented are diverse: fiction, artistic periodicals, history and economy, radical publications. What sets this set of wrappers apart from the ones we usually see from 1920s (and the majority of the wrappers in the folder are 1921-1928), is that most of the covers are attributed - with the initials of the artist or a full name printed in the corner.

The majority of the titles are in Russian (42) and Georgian (18), German, English and Ukrainian all have one example each represented. The Georgian titles seem to be the rarest - of 18 represented we have only encountered 5 on the open market in our years in business. Most of the items in the collection have a dominant font design covers, abstract cover art and geometrical motifs - you can see that the complier was under certain constructivist influence. Interesting are pre-revolutionary examples included: clearly having the same visual effect on the complier, you can’t find them in any constructivist anthologies, as they were created before the style was formed.

Of the artists included in the folder we should mention a few: the local Kirill Zdanevich and Irakliy Gamrekeli, as well as Vladimir Keshelava and Iosif Charlemagne, the Leningrad-based
Evgeniy Beluha, Kyiv-based Evheniy Narbut, Adolf Strakhov from Kharkiv, Vsevolod Averin from Odesa and others.

Absolute favorite of Eristavi was Sergei Chekhonin (1978-1936), one of the founders of the constructivism, especially in Soviet porcelain - he was artistic director of the State Porcelain Factory in Petrograd (later Leningrad) in 1918-1927 - 8 works by him are included. His contribution to the book design is less researched, but striking nevertheless. A few rare examples could be found in this album, that we were not able to trace elsewhere. Chekhonin has emigrated to France in 1928, the same year this album has been finished.

About the complier:
Giorgiy Eristavi (1891-1982) was a well-established Georgian theatrical designer and artist. In his early days he has started by restoring the ancient Georgian frescos under the supervision of Dmitri Shevardnadze. He has worked in Tbilisi Sakhazino theatre, nothing is known about his work in book design - but this album suggests he has taken a keen interest. Together with mystic George Gurdjieff he has headed the Georgian society of the followers of Rudolf Steinter. It is known that he has convinced other artists in Tbilisi to become followers and held regular artistic meetings of this group. Because of such interests soon after the creation of this album Eristavi was stripped of his work and exiled to Siberia. This was followed by another arrest and exile. He was able to return to Tbilisi in 1950s.

We have the unique opportunity to look at the book market of 1920s through the eyes of the designer, and enjoy his aesthetic picks, in one of the most productive places at the time - Tbilisi. This example helps us understand the making of the style of 1920s, to see what was considered good or bad, not to mention record some of the ultra-rare examples of ephemeral design, that would have been otherwise lost to researchers.