Alexander Rodchenko

by Alexander Rodchenko (Other), Olga Sviblova (Editor), Varvara Rodchenko (Editor)

Overview

Alexanader Rodchenko was one of the main generators of creative ideas during the extraordinary time of the Russian avant-garde movements, and he perfectly reflected its spiritual atmosphere. In 1924, photography was "invaded" by Rodchenko, resulting in a fundamental rethinking on the nature of photography and the role of the photographer. With the introduction of conceptual considerations, the photograph changed from being a mere reflection of reality to a means of visually representing dynamic intellectual constructions. Throughout the entire history of Russian photography in the first half of the twentieth century, Alexander Rodchenko is the only figure to have left us definitive traces through the publication of articles and diaries: they are the artistic reflections of a thinker-photographer, the witness to a historic cataclysm that generated a tragic conflict in him between conscious supposition and the unconscious creative drive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788857231754
Publisher:	Skira
Publication date:	11/08/2016
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 11.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Olga Sviblova is Director of Moscow House of Photography Museum and Multimedia Art Museum.

Varvara Rodchenko, photographer and artist, is the daughter of Aleksandr Rodchenko.

Editorial Reviews

Best known of the Russian avant-garde artists of the interwar period, Rodchenko has gained ever more attention over the last two decades. The final canonization came in the form of this year's major Museum of Modern Art retrospective. Organized by Dabrowski, senior curator in the department of drawings, this is the first American exhibit to survey his entire career and look at his work in painting, drawing, design, and collage as well as photography. This catalog reproduces all the show's selections, which are valuable for their breadth and high quality more than depth in most areas. Of the five main essays, Leah Dickerman (art history, Stanford Univ.) contributes an especially fine analysis of the importance of political propoganda to the artist. Oddly, as with the show, one comes away wodering if Dabrowski's arguments for Rodchenko's importance aren't a bit too strenuously argued. Nonetheless, this is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and up-to-date look at an important artist--it works well with Alexander Lavrentiev's more focused Rodchenko: Photography, 1924-1954 (LJ 11/1/96)--and as such it belongs in serious art collections in larger public and academic libraries.--Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"

Library Journal