Geometrical Design in 1930's Soviet Book Dustjacket Design

JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

[Kuznetsov, E. Tsirk. [Circus.] Moscow: Academia, 1931; Cover design by N. Akimov.; 8 v., [655] leaves of plates : col. ill. ; 32 x 57 cm.]

I found this dustjacket art of Soviet-era books (all from the 1930's save one)  in the New York Public Library collections (here) and was struck by the geometrical objects in many of the designs. They have a sense of warmth to me, somehow, like softer work coming from the tail end of the Constructivist period, having elements of Dada but really just having some of the hard edge of Constructivism without the scorching/awakening images that might have been embedded in the geometrical design. 

Lapin, Boris Matveevich. Podvig. [A Heroic Exploit.] Leningrad: Izd-vo Pisatelei v Leningrade, 1934. Cover design by S. Iudovin.

SSSR-SSHA. Mezhdunarodnyi shakhmatnyi match po radio. Moskva: Fizkultura i sport, 1946.

 

 Shternberg, Lev Ikovlevich. Giliaki. [Giliaks.] Khabarovsk: Dal'giz, 1933. (1933)

Molchanov, Aleksandr. Krest'ianin. [A Peasant.] Leningrad: Izd-vo Pisatelei v Leningrade, 1933. (1933)

 

Vinogradov, Ivan Arkhipovich. Ispytanie geroia. O tvorchestve Iu. Lebedinskogo. [An Experiment over the Protagonist. On ... (1934)

Gorbatov, Boris Leont’evich. Moe pokolenie. [My Generation.] Moscow: Sovetskaia Literatura, 1934. (1934)

Ginzburg, Moisei Iakovlevich. Zhilishche. [A Dwelling.] Moscow: Gosstroiizdat, 1934. (1934)

Krupskaia, Nadezhda Konstantinovna. Sobranie sochinenii. t.4. [Collected Works. Vol. 4.] Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1934. (1934)

Dos Passos, J. Tri soldata. [Three Soldiers.] Khar’kiv: LIM, 1934. (1934)

 

Iakutskii fol'klor. [Iakut Folklore.] Leningrad: Sovetskii Pisatel’, 1936. (1936)

 

Neverov, Aleksandr Sergeevich. Gusi-lebedi. [Geese-Swans.] Moscow: Zemlia i Fabrica, 1927. (1927)

Zarkhi, Natan Abramovich. Ulitsa radosti. [Street of Joy.] Leningrad: Lengikh, 1933. (1933)

Serebrianskii, Mark Isakovich. Furmanov. [Furmanov.] Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1936. (1936)

 

 

Comments

[Timabrahams]

Really nice collection of book jackets, undermined by a highly debatable historical contention at the beginning. The Ukranian famine is far more complicated an argument than you make out and really what does it have to do with these dust jackets? If there is a link, then surely there is a similar link between the napalming of Cambodia and Milton Glaser's I Heart NY campaign.

[John F. Ptak]

Thanks Tim for your comments--it just so happened that I changed the intro to the quick Soviet bookjacket post earlier this morning because, well, one really didn't have much to do with the other. // I don't agree though on the point you raised on the Ukrainian genocide, but that will have to wait for a different post, and then we can have a discussion about it. // Its interesting to think about what you said about Glaser and I Heart NY,though the association to me isn't quite as direct as 1932/3 and the Ukraine. The bombing of Cambodia came a little earlier than the Glaser design, or at least the bombing campaign(s) started in '69 and ran thru the early 70's; my impression is that the Glaser logo hit in '75. I think if I was thinking about 1969 and Cambodia and NYC I might be led to DOW and Monsanto (for napalm, though that was a WWII event) and even though these companies have headquarters outside NY (in the midwest, MI and MO or something like that). I might think Monsanto in '75 for Agent Orange. I'm not sure. But I see your point, though for me its much more difficult to do the I Heart NY/Cambodia/1969-1975 association than the Soviet-design book djs/1932-3/Stalin genocide. It is something interesting to think about, how we associate dates/events/locations...but I do agree after reading what I wrote last night that the government/design association that I made was out-of-place.