Bookvica

[ART EXHIBITION ON MOSCOW STREETS] Moskva 1 maia 1933 [i.e. Moscow on the 1st of May of 1933]

Item #292

[Moscow]: Tsentr. pervomaiskaya khudozh, podkomissia Mossoveta, [1933]. 48 pp. 17,5x12,5 cm. In original constructivist-style wrappers. Very good, small tears of the spine, diagonal crease of the upper part of the back cover and a few pages.

One of 3000 copies. First and only edition. Rare.

This edition is dedicated to the profound and well-planned decoration of the city due to a big celebration of the May 1st of 1933 (the first year of the second five-year-plan, piatiletka). The book itself has a laconic geometrical yet catchy wrapper design. The book includes catalogue of all paintings which were presented outside on Gor’ky (Tverskaia), Petrovka, Stoleshnikov and Kuznetsky streets with artists’ names, titles and exact places where paintings were installed.

All paintings were dedicated to such subjects as geography of USSR, manufacturing and agriculture, military forces and Revolution, etc. The interesting part of the catalogue is a description of squares’ decoration. There were 8 decorated squares with different themes. The Red Square decoration was constructed by Stenberg brothers, and the theme was «Long live May the 1st, the holiday of solidarity of the international proletariat!». The main elements of the decoration were two giant portraits of Lenin and Stalin on GUM building and a panel with Pervomai slogans on 4 languages. A monumental sculpture by Kuznetsov was installed on the Lobnoye Mesto. Okhotnyi riad was decorated with «architectural construction» designed by Gustav Klutsis (the theme was «Raise the Banner of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin») which was installed on the facade of hotel «Moskva». The project was based on the poster by Klutsis on the same subject (printed by IZOGIZ). The idea was to show how closely Stalin’s rule connected to revolutionary studies of Marx and Engels. There were 4 panels, on one of them there were depicted fortresses of old world and of new (Dneprostroi). All elements were lit.

Decorating of parades and public events in early Soviet history could be considered an art form just like agitprop posters or art. Any information we can gather right now on the designs and the organization of these events is historically and culturally important.

No copies according to the Worldcat.

Sold