Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller - Old and Rare Books

Russische Plastik (Russian Sculpture) [UNIQUE COLLECTION OF 26 ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF WORKS EXHIBITED AT THE ERSTE RUSSISCHE KUNSTAUSSTELLUNG] [SIGNED]

Korolev, Boris [Boris Korolyov]

Berlin: [1922]. Softcover. Small folio. 14 leaves, unpaginated. Hand-made string-bound paper portfolio, in paper wrappers, with calligraphic black German text on the front cover. Housed in a custom tan cloth clamshell box, with a dark brown leather label lettered in gilt on the spine. Signed by the artist on the first leaf.

This unique collection is comprised of 26 mounted silver gelatin photographs, showing 20 works by acclaimed Russian sculptor Boris Korolev (Boris Korolyov, 1884-1963), 19 of which he would be exhibiting at the Erste Russische Kunstaustellung (The First Russian Art Exhibition) in Berlin in 1922. The exhibition was historically important in that it was first show devoted to Russian art to be presented in Western Europe in the years since the Russian revolution.

The exhibition opened on Sunday, October 15, 1922, at the Gallery van Diemen, showing more than 700 works by 167 artists. The show was organized by the International Bureau of the Soviet People's Commissariat for Education under the auspices of David Sterenberg, Naum Gabo, and Nathan Altman, and was scheduled to run for one month, but due to the positive response by press and a large number of visitors was extended until the end of the year. The architect Adolf Behne described it as the "boldest and most extensive exhibition of creative production" that has been seen in Berlin in years. While it was originally scheduled to travel to various European capitols, the French government refused to give permission for an exhibition in Paris. Subsequently the exhibition was only shown in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in the Spring of the following year. Retrospectively the event has been seen as an important moment in the history 20th century art, which highlighted the significant Russian contributions to modern art.

The first photograph is a portrait of the sculptor, with his signature below. Most of the heavy stock paper leaves contain a photograph mounted on both the rector and the verso (a few leaves are single sided only). All of the photographs, which range in size from 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 to 7 x 9 1/2", are captioned below in hand-written Cyrillic text in ink. The captions contain the title of the piece, the year of it's completion, medium used, and in some cases the name of the museum where the work was held at the time. All of the 20 individual works shown here, mostly sculpture and few sketches, were produced by the artist between 1915 and 1920. Some prints are mat, and some are glossy (some with oxidation to corners).

This collection of images is significant in that it documents, in-part, Korolev's short-lived but notable cubist period (ca.1918-1923). Many of these early works in Korolev's career no longer survive, including his notorious monument to revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin, which stood for only a few months in Moscow's Turgenev Square before it was officially removed. Images of both his small scale mockup design sculpture, and the full scale monument standing in Moscow are included. This controversial design has since been acclaimed as an important moment in the history of Russian sculpture. Also shown is Korolev's even more radical cubist design for a proposed statue of Karl Marx, which was ultimately rejected in favor of a more traditional design by Georghe Lavrov (1895-1991), and erected in 1919. The final three photographs included show cubist drawings and sketches, including the artist's interesting design for the facade of the Project of the Central City Public Building, in Moscow. These and many of Korolev's other works from this period were ultimately deemed to be too experimental for even Soviet sensibilities during this early period, which was concerned with defining a new Soviet artistic identity. After the negative reception and controversy surrounding many of these works, he switched to a more realistic style, which was in line with Soviet authorities.

Wrappers with minor to light stains, age toning and creasing, as well as some light rubbing to extremities. Spine of the wrappers has been re-backed and restored. Interior relatively clean, save for some minor age toning to leaves, and some oxidizing to the edges of some of the photographs. String-tied binding still holding tight. In very good- condition all things considered. vg-. Item #53840

Provenance: The work was originally part of the collection of Russian-French architect and artist Nikolay Istselennov (1891-1981). Istselennov lived in Berlin between 1921-1924, and was a prominent figure in the Russian artistic community there, becoming a member of the council of the "House of Arts", an organization of expatriate artists and writers.

It is unclear weather Korolev himself assembled the work for his own personal documentation, to present as a gift, or whether it was assembled by a third party to show Korolev's work.

Price: $39,500.00