"Flight: Aviation Verse", Anthology of Poems Edited by Nikolai Aseyev – Moscow, 1923 – Cover and illustrations by ...

"Flight: Aviation Verse", Anthology of Poems Edited by Nikolai Aseyev – Moscow, 1923 – Cover and illustrations by Alexander Rodchenko

Лёт. Авио-Стихи, an anthology of poems by Nikolai Aseyev. Moscow: Красная Новь, 1923. Russian.

An anthology of poems edited by futurist poet Nikolai Aseyev (Николай Асеев, 1889-1963). The anthology includes poems by Aseyev himself, Gerasimov, Golodny, Platonov, Tertyakov, and many others.

Cover and illustrations (photomontages) by Alexander Rodchenko.

60, [3] pages, approx. 23 cm. Good to good-fair condition. Minor stains and blemishes. Tears to cover and spine, including some small open tears, repaired with paper. Stamp and pencil markings on rear cover.

MoMA 502.

Alexander Rodchenko (Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Ро́дченко; 1891-1956), Russian artist, designer, sculptor, and photographer, member of the Constructivist movement. Rodchenko studied art in Kazan, Tatarstan, and Moscow. He began his career in Cubist and Futurist styles, later gravitating towards Suprematism and geometric abstraction, influenced by Kandinsky and Malevich. Rodchenko served as Vladimir Tatlin's assistant, was his student, and participated in a 1916 exhibition curated by Tatlin. Under his influence, in 1919 Rodchenko began creating three-dimensional works made from various materials (wood, metal, etc.), characterized by interlocking geometric shapes forming airy and dynamic compositions.

During the 1920s, he worked regularly with the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, illustrating and photographing his books, issues of the "Left Front of the Arts" (LEF; ЛЕФ) journal, as well as books and publications by other Russian Futurist and avant-garde creators, and regularly published his photographs in the press.

Rodchenko is considered one of the most versatile artists of the Russian avant-garde: he was among the leaders of the Productivist faction, which advocated strengthening the connection between art and industrial production, and between it and the working and consumer population, thus turning to furniture design and applied arts; later he was drawn to photography and photomontage and engaged in them extensively (considered one of the pioneers of the genre), designed posters, illustrated books, worked in graphics and typography, and created sets for theater and cinema.