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[PHOTOMONTAGE TECHNIQUE] Leningradskii IZORAM [i.e. Leningrad IZORAM]

Mácza, J.

Item #2462

Leningrad: Izogiz, 1932. 42 pp.: ill. 21x15 cm. In original illustrated wrappers by A. Gliukov. Spine is carefully restored. Good clean copy.

First and only edition. One of 4500 copies.
Constructivist cover design impressively represents avant-garde spirit of one Soviet art organisation and the general view of their grandiose and experimental project of 1931 (a photo was turned 90 degrees to be placed fully). Looks like a photomontage, the photograph shows all the diversity of decorations gathered together as a montage in real life.
This well-illustrated monograph was compiled on the IZORAM (Art Workshops of Proletariat Youth) that existed in 1928-1932. It was created as a coalition of nearly 80 amateur art groups and was closely associated with avant-garde art. The most ambitious project of this organization was propaganda composition decorating the Uritsky Square [now the Palace Square] on May 1, 1931. The colossal and comprehensive art object crowned with success all efforts of IZORAM artists to be at the epicenter of proletarian culture and socialist construction. It introduced a new approach to May Day celebrations, rallies and propaganda objects created. The settlement was both decorative and theatrical because it hosted demonstrations and performances. A huge Red Army soldier, together with a worker, were placed in the central part, dividing the settlement to a right “foreign” side and the left "socialist" one. The “capitalist” part contained a half-body imperialist trying to grab the central figures by a nasty hand; it was heavily armed, an army (living actors) was going out of his mouth and people of various colonies were tightened in his other fist. By his side, a prison was constructed depicting the fascist symbol and a puppet priest blessed his act of aggression. Apart from all mentioned, there was a repressed workers’ uprising along closed factories.
Meanwhile, the left side embodied victories of the Soviet Union. A platform was constructed as an expanded gold wheat field. The key place was occupied by a map of the first five-year plan with new power stations and enterprises indicated. Next to the map, an oil tower declared about development of the Soviet oil industry that had been reached for two years instead of five. There were real tractors crushing models of kulaks and a large furnace as a symbol of industrialization.
This detailed criticism of the settlement was compiled by Hungarian art critic János Mácza (Rus.: Ivan Matsa; 1893-1974). In 1923, he emigrated to the USSR, became a well-known
critic and a member of the October art group. The edition also reproduced earlier works by the IZORAM, including murals, book and posters on Soviet campaigns spread in 1928-1930.

Worldcat shows copies located in Princeton, Yale, Harvard, John Hopkins, Stanford Universities and Getty Institute.

Price: $2,500.00