Item #290 [TATLIN’S PLANE] Vystavka rabot zasluzhennogo deiatelia iskusstv V.E. Tatlina [i.e. Exhibition of Works by Recognized Artist V.E. Tatlin]
[TATLIN’S PLANE] Vystavka rabot zasluzhennogo deiatelia iskusstv V.E. Tatlina [i.e. Exhibition of Works by Recognized Artist V.E. Tatlin]
[TATLIN’S PLANE] Vystavka rabot zasluzhennogo deiatelia iskusstv V.E. Tatlina [i.e. Exhibition of Works by Recognized Artist V.E. Tatlin]

[TATLIN’S PLANE] Vystavka rabot zasluzhennogo deiatelia iskusstv V.E. Tatlina [i.e. Exhibition of Works by Recognized Artist V.E. Tatlin]

Item #290

Moscow; Leningrad: Izogiz,1932. 10, [6] pp., including wrappers: ill. 10x14 cm. In original printed wrappers with lettering on the front wrapper: «V. Tatlin». Very good. Some soiling and light creases, owner’s signature on the rear wrapper and correction on p.8, small piece of the corner of the rear wrapper lost.

One of 1000 copies. Extremely rare, almost ephemeral catalogue.
The exhibition was held in the State Museum of Fine Arts in 1932. The main exhibit was the model of the aircraft «Letatlin» made in triplicate. In his foreword to the catalogue Tatlin wrote that this apparatus «can enter into the everyday life of the Soviet masses as a
subject of consumer goods». When working on the Letatlin, the artist was advised by the surgeon Heinze, teaching aviator Losev. There was even a commentary made by a military pilot and pilot K. Artseulov. The models were performed in the research laboratory of materials with the participation of Sotnikov and Pavilionov. In all, 12 exhibits were on display at the exhibition (as they are named in the catalog). The catalogue also carries two photographs of Letatlin and a very small photo of longeron.

This catalogue is a great evidence of the era of avant-garde and constructivism coming to an end in the person of one of the major artists of that time. Only few years later it would become impossible to view such works in the State Museum or anywhere on display in USSR.
Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953) was a Soviet painter, architect, and the key exponent of Constructivist sculpture. His counter reliefs were the most important part of his sculptural work. As part of an ongoing focus on Pablo Picasso’s Cubism, Tatlin abandoned any association with materiality in his works, adopting pure geometric and technic solutions, using their material character, tension and weight ratio. These works also represented a necessary step of development towards Machine Art, which Tatlin also founded.

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