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[MOSCOW CONCEPTUALISM: THE FIRST OFFICIAL RELEASE OF LEV RUBINSTEIN’S “POSTCARD POEMS”] A complete set of Lev Rubinstein’s three “postcard poems”: Malen’kaya nochnaya serenada [i.e. A Little Night Serenade] (1986), Mama myla ramu [i.e. Mom was Washing the Frame] (1987), and Poyavleniye geroya [i.e. Appearance of a Hero]

Rubinstein, L.

Item #2765

Moscow: Renaissance, 1992. 98 cards; 83 cards; 111 cards. Ca. 8x12,5 cm. In original publisher’s cardboard slipcases. Near fine. Slipcases worn, but internally clean copies.

Scarce. Text in Russian.
An extremely rare, complete set of the first editions of Lev Rubinstein’s “postcard poems,” a foundational masterpiece of Moscow Conceptualism and a landmark in post-Soviet experimental publishing. The collection features Rubinstein’s three most canonical works: A Little Night Serenade, Mom was Washing the Frame, and Appearance of a Hero, each printed as individual phrases on separate cards. While these poems were initially composed in the mid-to-late 1980s and circulated through samizdat as sequential lists, our post-Soviet edition marks their first official publication in their intended physical format, namely as a loose deck of cards.
Lev Rubinstein (1947–2024) was a pivotal poet and one of the founders of the Soviet-era Moscow Conceptualism, an artistic movement that sought to undermine socialist ideology and its restrictive formats imposed on artists. Rubinstein was best known for his “postcard poems,” in which each verse was written on a separate card, inspired by his time working as a librarian at his Moscow alma mater. The final work, resembling a library catalog, prompted the reader to interact physically with the poem. While Rubinstein’s cards circulated in various samizdat periodicals as numbered lists starting in the late 1970s, it was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union that they were officially published in their intended form. Rubinstein composed more than thirty card poems before declaring the project «finished» in the late 1990s.
Overall, extremely rare set of Lev Rubinstein’s “postcard poems” and one of the most vibrant examples of “Second Avant-Garde” poetry, offering a tactile experience of Moscow conceptualism.

Price: $1,500.00