[Gosplan Literatury. Literaturnyi Tsentr Konstruktivistov. Stat’i stikhi]

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[Gosplan Literatury. Literaturnyi Tsentr Konstruktivistov. Stat’i stikhi]

Artist Nicolai Kupreianov [Kupryanov] Russian, 1894-1933

Publisher Krug, Moscow, Leningrad, [1924?]

Author various

Author Various artists

Date[about 1924]

Dimensionsbook: 8 15/16 x 6 7/8 x 1/4 in. (227 x 175 x 6mm)
page: 8 15/16 x 6 7/8 in. (227 x 175mm)

MediumReproduction: photolithograph of photomontage and drawing (in newspaper insert) Text: letterpress on buff wove paper; typographic design

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineMolly and Walter Bareiss Art Fund

Object number

1993.67

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Works on Paper

Published Referencescf. Anikst, Mikhail, editor, Soviet Commercial Design of the Twenties, New York, 1987, no. 233 (repr. of Krug device). cf. Compton, Susan, Russian Avant-garde Books, 1917--1934, Cambridge, Mass., 1993, p. 64. cf. Harrison, Gail Constructivism & Futurism: Russian & Other, Ex Libris 6, New York, 1977, nos. 74, 93, reprs.Exhibition HistorySplendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, Feb. 14--May 11, 2003Label TextEl Lissitzky, Dlia Golosa (For the Voice). Text by Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (1923) Nicolai Kupreianov, [Gosplan Literatury. Literaturnyi Tsentr Konstruktivistov. Stat’i stikhi] (State Plan for Literature. Literary Center of the Constructivists. Essays, Poetry). Texts by various authors (1924?) These two Russian Constructivist books were published near the end of Lenin’s lifetime. In Russia this was a period of great experimentation and accomplishment in the literary and visual arts. Dlia Golosa literally means For the Voice, but might better be translated as For Reading out Loud. The text consists of 13 poems by the Russian poet Mayakovsky, whose fame was like that of a rock star today. The Russian people loved him and loved to hear his poems read out loud. When Mayakovsky asked Lissitzky to illustrate this group of poems, the artist designed a modest volume in black, white, and red. This small book would revolutionize type and graphic design. Ingenious tabs run down the right edge with symbols not only to locate but also to represent the 13 poems inside. Mayakovsky’s words are beautifully, visually composed across each page. Lissitzky believed that “concepts should be expressed with the greatest economy—optically not phonetically,” and that “the layout of the text on the page must reflect the rhythm of the content.” Nicolai Kupreianov designed both the cover and the typography for Gosplan Literatury. It is an anthology of Constructivist texts by a dozen authors, published by the Literary Center of Constructivists (known as the LTsK). Like Lissitzky’s books, Gosplan has unusual divisions within the texts, including sections on perspective, production, “the laboratory,” and LTsK news. The book’s modest size and inexpensive materials are typical of the period. In the 1960s American artists used similar means for mass distribution of their books.