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[EVOLUTION OF THE SOVIET SANATORIUM] Sbornik, posviashchennyi desiatiletiiu sanatoriia #1 im. 10 let Oktyabrya v Kislovodske. 1924-1934: 20 risunkov v tekste i 21 ris. na vkleikakh [i.e. Collection Dedicated to a Ten Year Anniversary of 10 Year of October Sanatorium #1 in Kislovodsk. 1924-1934: 20 Drawings in Text and 21 Plates].

Item #557

Moscow; Leningrad: Biomedgiz, 1935. 63 pp., 21 pl.: ill. 23x30 cm. In publisher’s cloth with stamping. A bleak damp stain on the front board. Otherwise very good/near fine.

First and only edition. Very rare. One of 2200 copies. Inscribed by director of sanatorium and editor of album Moisei Bolotner for a patient who actively participated in the resort development (15.09.1935).
This is a beautiful celebratory edition with many high-quality photomontages on day-to-day activities of the sanatorium in the 1920s-30s. 21 constructivist compositions were made by Efim Smekhov, the graduate of VKhUTEMAS and chief artist of the publishing house «Medicine». The photographs were placed inside geometrical and thematic forms; one of the leaves shows a charming idea to use the frame of a tooth for photomontage on the dental procedures.
Soviet people were proud of their own philosophy of leisure and recreation, considering them an integral part of socialism, whose ideals defended. Thus, health resorts were considered as a key component of Soviet superiority. Vacation was perceived as a time of proper rest, and here the material was allowed to prevail over the spiritual. Such a philosophy gave architects the «green light»: they could implement the most «daring and brilliant designs» without regard to cost. Across the former Union, we find sanatoriums that are excellent examples of a wide variety of architectural styles, and Kislovodsk wasn’t an exception. The 1930s were a period of rapid development of Kislovodsk in many ways. It was decorated with creations of famous architects (M. Ginzburg, I. Leonidov, etc.). One of Sanatorium’s buildings was designed during a constructivist era, but later its traces disappeared, replaced by the Stalinist constructions, and the original one remained as design and photograph exclusively in this album.
Kislovodsk Sanatorium #1 was the prime resort for members of the Communist Party where the major cardiology and neuropathology specialists worked, including Iushchenko, Davidenkov, Pletnev, Breitman, Ianovskii, Polonskii, Kogan. Thanks to them, the focus mostly was on the heart diseases and the nervous system diseases. They developed experimental research: the electrocardiogram monitoring was organized during the trip by car and after climbing the hill. The process is recorded in these articles and results are presented in tables and charts. The sanatorium had the newest devices for the hydropathy, electrocardiogram, dentistry, radiography, etc. Due to the fact that most of the patients worked in offices, the focus mostly was on outdoor activities, motion therapy and walks. And curiously, there was the collaboration of the patients and doctors for improving the procedures. The sanatorium is still alive and now it has the name ‘Pearl of Caucasus’.

Worldcat doesn’t track this edition.

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