Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Book in excellent unread/unused condition. In English and Galician. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> In 1926 El Lissitzky was invited to design a room for the Internationale Kunstasstellung in Dresden a modern art exhibition featuring works by artists from sixteen European countries the Soviet Union the United States and Japan. The art show was part of a larger event called the Jubil?ums-Gartenbau-Austellung a traditional German horticultural exhibition held at the St?dtischer Ausstellungs- Palast a vast building which architect Heinrich Tessenow reorganized into fifty-six galleries for the occasion. From the beginning El Lissitzky was keenly aware of his project’s publicity potential; in fact when negotiating the terms of his contract in a letter to Sophie K?ppers he expressed the belief that his room could become the show’s chief attraction. Given the magnitude of the event his Raum f?r konstruktive Kunst (Room for Constructivist Art] would have to compete with the other fifty-five galleries for the audience’s attention as the artist observed in his reflections at the end of that year: “The great international picture reviews resemble a zoo where the visitors are roared at by a thousand different beasts at the same time. In my room the objects should not all suddenly attack the viewer. If on previous occasions in his march in front of the picture-walls he was lulled by the painting into a certain passivity now our design should make the man active. This should be the purpose of the room.” Heirs to the salons and great world’s fairs of earlier years many of the most important art shows of the 20th century were held in celebratory contexts and often aspired to make an international impact. It was difficult to stand out at these massive events and since the previous century artists had devised certain strategies to attract the attention of viewers and critics. In the midst of this hyper-stimulating yet ultimately soporific environment El Lissitzky sought to interrupt the steady stream of roars and envelop spectators in a different space. But the Russian designer also believed that modern art had different requirements than classical art and needed a specific type of space. (LL)