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[GEORGIAN LEF] Memarts’kheneoba [i.e. Leftism]

Item #620

Tbilisi, 1927–1928. #1 of 1927. 84 pp.: 2 ill. 18,7x17
cm. In original illustrated publisher’s wrappers. One of 1000 copies. Wrapper design
by Irakli Gamrekeli. Photo on the wrapper by Tokhadze. Text block separated from the
wrapper, tears and small losses of the spine, general soiling of the wrappers and a few
spots in the text, note on the front wrapper (pale red ink).

A celebration of the Georgian Constructivist movement.
“Memartskheneoba” was a journal of the Left Fronts of the Arts, a wide
ranging association of writers, photographers, critics and designers in Soviet Georgia
from 1926 to the late 1920s. Only two issues of the magazine were ever published. Its
goal, as set out in its first issue, was to “establish genuine leftist art, unite all Georgian
artists working under its principles, and fight against centrist art”.
A manifesto for new art and design innovations, “Memartskheneoba”
functioned as a platform for key figures of the Georgian avant-garde. The core of the
Georgian Left Front consisted of the former Futurists and creators of H2SO4, such as
Simon Chikovani (one of the leaders of the group), Irakli Gamrekeli, Demna Shengelaia,
Nikoloz Chachava, Nikoloz Shengelaia, and others.
The issue is divided into two sections: Theory and Practice; and Bibliography
and Reviews. In the first section, the editorial board defines the main purpose of the
magazine and features leftist articles and verses. The second section of the journal
includes reviews of different Georgian magazines and newspapers. “Memartskheneoba”
was the Georgian answer to the work of the Left Front of the Arts in Moscow which
had transformed Soviet art and set the Constructivist standard. “LEF” magazine started
in 1923. Edited by Mayakovsky (1893–1930), the journal had two runs, one from 1923
to 1925 (as “LEF”), and the other from 1927 to 1928 (as “New LEF”).
Not found in Worldcat.

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