See larger photo
| The Soviet Photograph, 1924-1937 [Click on the appropriate flag to buy the book] | Product Details Hardcover 198 pages Yale University Press Published 1996 From Library Journal An art historian and Rodchenko's grandson, Lavrentiev (Vavara Stepanova: The Complete Works, MIT, 1991) has compiled a lavish and valuable survey of the Soviet artist's contributions to the field of photography. The more than 400 works reproduced here are largely drawn from his years of greatest creativity and engagement with the avant-garde, 1924-1935. But Lavrentiev has wisely included a selection of Rodchenko's graphic works and photomontages to give context and, surprisingly, a few lyric, even sentimental, color photographs from the 1950s. The short, largely biographical text-printed in English, German, and French-will be of interest for its succinct discussion of Rodchenko's justification of photography as art. Researchers will be most appreciative, however, of the "list of photographs," which includes not only title and year but also details of the camera and lens used and citations to where the work has been published and exhibited, whenever available. Because of the size of his oeuvre, a comprehensive catalog of Rodchenko's works will probably never be produced; this beautiful, yet affordable, volume is a large step toward filling that void. For all libraries collecting works on 20th-century artists. A contributor to Montage & Modern Life, 1919-1942 (MIT, 1992), Tupitsyn here has reworked her dissertation into a suprisingly engaging account of the evolution of Soviet photography from radical artistic experimentation to predictable propaganda tool. Though the writing is at times dry and quote laden, the stories of collaboration among Gustav Klutsis, Elizar Langman, Rodchenko, and others and their eventual dissolution in pursuit of varying ideologies are both well told and well documented. And the publisher is to be commended for not skimping on either the quality of the book's design or the number of illustrations, which are consistently relevant to and well integrated with the text. This will be a valuable addition to any academic library collecting works on the early 20th-century avant gardes. Eric Bryant, "Library Journal" Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Book Description In this handsome book-the first history of avant-garde Soviet photography and photomontage-Margarita Tupitsyn analyzes the work of major and little-known Soviet photographers from 1924 to 1937. Approaches to photography were influenced by changing social and political realities, Tupitsyn finds, and photography of this period was the last "great experiment" in search of the most effective ways to connect art, radical politics, and the masses. |
Gustav Klutsis & Valentina Kulagina: Photography & Montage After Constructivism Gustav Klutsis (Photographer); Valentina Kulagina; & Margarita Tupitsyn | |
|
The Soviet Photograph, 1924-1937 Margarita Tupitsyn | |
| | |