Auction 93 Part 1 - Manuscripts, Prints and Engravings, Objects and Facsimiles, from the Gross Family Collection, and Private Collections
Sichas Chulin, Eine fun di Geshichten, a tale by Moishe Broderzon, illustrated by Eliezer (El) Lissitzky. Moscow: Nashe slovo, 1917 (printing details from colophon on final page). Yiddish.
Sichas Chulin ("Small Talk" or "The Legend of Prague") is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's finest examples of illustrated Jewish books. The composition was written as a Modernist adaptation of the folk tale "Maaseh Yerushalmi" ("A Jerusalem Tale"), a story of the marriage of the Jew R. Yonah to the daughter of Ashmedai (Asmodeus), King of the Demons, with the setting of the story moved to the Jewish Ghetto of Prague.
The design of this publication – Lissitzky's first significant work in book design – was inspired by illustrated Jewish scrolls, while at the same time integrating modernist elements. The text was written entirely by a Jewish scribe ("sofer stam"), in square Hebrew letters, and was illustrated throughout in a format resembling that of Esther scrolls, with splendid illustrations and decorations – figures, animals and architectonic structures. The title page illustration shows three figures representing the creators of this scroll, namely Lissitzky, Broderzon, and the scribe, and a fourth, smaller figure, representing the main character of the story – a Jew being lifted upward in the talons of a large bird.
The first edition of Sichas Chulin was printed in Moscow, 1917, in a limited edition, of which a small number of copies were bound in form of scrolls (see Kedem Auction 92, item 183).
[18] pages. 30.5X24 cm. Good condition. Stains. Marginal tears to title page and final page, repaired with paper. Inner margins reinforced with paper. Stamps. Faded inscription on title page. New binding and endpapers.
El (Eliezer Lazar Markovich) Lissitzky (1890–1941), Russian Jewish artist, designer, photographer, educator, typographer, and architect, among the most prominent and influential leaders of the Russian avant–garde movement. An architect by training, Lissitzky, along with his mentor and friend Kazimir Malevich, greatly contributed to the formation and development of the Suprematist movement, which advanced a geometric form of abstract art. He was responsible for the design of numerous books and periodicals, as well as exhibitions and propaganda material on behalf of Russia's Communist regime, and he exerted considerable influence on Europe's Bauhaus and Constructivist movements.
Early in his career, Lissitzky expressed a keen interest in Jewish culture, and Jewish motifs were integrated into many of his works. In this vein, in 1915–16 he took part in Sh. An–ski's ethnographic expedition into the Pale of Jewish Settlement. With the outbreak of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution, Lissitzky came to be wholeheartedly identified with the Communist cause. In the interest of advancing Jewish culture in Russia in the aftermath of the Revolution, he devoted much of his creative energy, among other things, to designing and illustrating Yiddish children's books, and a number of his published children's books were regarded as pioneering masterpieces of graphic design and typography. Nevertheless, several years later he largely abandoned Jewish subject matter and embarked instead on the development of a more abstract and universal artistic language. The resulting style found its keenest expression in a series of abstract, geometric paintings, drawings and prints he created in the years 1919–27, to which he gave the name "Proun."
Moishe Broderzon (1890–1956), poet, playwright, and founder of a number of prominent artists' groups in Eastern Europe, including the "Yung–Yiddish" avant–garde group, the Ararat Theater of Łódź, and the world's first Yiddish marionette theater, "Had Gadya." In 1916, Broderzon was one of the founders of the "Circle for Jewish National Aesthetic" artists' group in Moscow known as "Shomir". Broderzon's oeuvre includes a host of poems and plays, many of which were dedicated to Jewish topics. Among other works, Broderzon created the libretto for "Dovid un Bas Sheva, " the first Yiddish opera to appear onstage in Poland, as well as the acclaimed epic poem "Yud, " which deals with the impending calamity about to befall European Jewry. Many of Broderzon's books were products of a collaboration with other Jewish artists, including designers, painters, and photographers. These collaborations gave rise to several books illustrated and designed in a host of different styles.
Alongside "Had Gadya" (see following item), "Sichas Chulin" is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's finest examples of illustrated Yiddish books.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv.
Dem Zeydns Kloles: a Kinder Komedie in Ayn Akt [Grandfather's Curses: A Children's Comedy in One Act], by Tsadok Dolgopolski, illustrations by El Lissitsky. [Moscow: Tsentraler Yidisher Komisariat, 1919]. Yiddish.
A play for children by the Soviet Yiddish writer Tsadok Dolgopolski, accompanied by two fine, intricate illustrations by El Lissitsky, who also designed the cover (the cover illustration is printed again in the last page of the book).
Rare. This booklet is among the earliest publications of the Tsentraler Yidisher Komisariat ["Central Jewish Commissariat, in Russian: Tsentraler Yidisher Komisariat].
[2], 5–32 pp. (title–page apparently missing). Approx. 11.5X16.5 cm. Good condition. Inscriptions and signatures on cover. Minor stains. Detached leaves. Pinholes to inner page margins. Signs of pasting to cover margins. Minor tears to spine.
Tsadok Dolgopolski (1879–1959), Yiddish author, playwright and teacher, native of Vitebsk (Belarus). In 1914 he published in Vilna an anthology of his writings, mostly comprising stage works concerned with Jewish life in the Shtetl. In 1919 he published his play "Dem Zeydns Kloles". A socialist, following the October Revolution he moved to Minsk, where he published stories, plays, poems and novels, all in the spirit of Communism, aiming to spread the values of the revolution among the Jewish populace.
In 1936, as part of a "purge" of Soviet Belarus from "Jewish nationalism" (i.e. Zionism), many Jewish intellectuals, among them Dolgopolski, were arrested, murdered or deported. Dolgopolski was among the sole survivors of this purge; after his release he returned to Vitebsk.
El (Eliezer Lazar Markovich) Lissitzky (1890–1941), Russian Jewish artist, designer, photographer, educator, typographer, and architect, among the most prominent and influential leaders of the Russian Avant–Garde movement. An architect by training, Lissitzky, along with his mentor and friend Kazimir Malevich, greatly contributed to the formation and development of the Suprematist movement, which advanced a geometric form of abstract art. His was responsible for the design of numerous books and periodicals, as well as exhibitions and propaganda material on behalf of Russia's Communist regime, and he exerted considerable influence on Europe's Bauhaus and Constructivist movements. Early in his career, Lissitzky expressed a keen interest in Jewish culture, and Jewish motifs were integrated into many of his works. In this vein, in 1915–16 he took part in Sh. An–ski's ethnographic expedition into the Pale of Jewish Settlement. With the outbreak of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution, Lissitzky came to be wholeheartedly identified with the Communist cause. In the interest of advancing Jewish culture in Russia in the aftermath of the Revolution, he devoted much of his creative energy, among other things, to designing and illustrating Yiddish children's books, and a number of his published children's books were regarded as pioneering masterpieces of graphic design and typography.
See:
• Kazovsky, 2003, pp. 201, no. 74.
• Sanctity – Art – Aesthetics, Exhibition catalog, Mané-Katz Museum, 2011.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, B.1404.
Der Ber [The Bear], by Feter Ben Zion [Benzion Raskin]. Kiev-St. Petersburg: Yiddisher Folks-Farlag, 1919. From the "Kinder-Garten" series of children's books. Yiddish.
A tale for children, illustrated by El Lissitzky.
10, [2] pages. Approx. 20 cm. Good condition. Minor stains. Minor tears to spine. Several inscriptions and stamps. Without binding.
In April 1919, El Lissitzky and Benzion Raskin signed a contract with the Yiddisher Folks-Farlag publishing house in Kiev, in which they sold the rights for eleven Yiddish illustrated children's books under the general title "Kinder-Garten". According to the contract, which they most probably signed due to financial distress, all eleven books had to be written and illustrated in a period of five months. Ultimately, only three books of the planned books were published: "Der Ber" [The Bear], "Di Hun vos hot Gevolt hoben a Kam" [The Hen that Wanted a Comb], and "Der Milner, di Milnerin un di Milshtayner" [The Miller, the Miller's Wife and the Millstones]. Shortly thereafter, Lissitzky returned to Vitebsk, to teach architecture, painting and graphic arts at the art school directed by Marc Chagall. See: Tradition and Revolution, The Jewish Renaissance in Russian Avant-Garde Art 1912-1928, p. 118.
El (Eliezer Lazar Markovich) Lissitzky (1890-1941), a Jewish-Russian artist, designer, photographer, teacher, typographer and architect, a prominent and important member of Russian avant-garde.
Lissitzky, an architect by training, contributed much, together with his teacher and friend Kazimir Malevich, to the conceptualization and development of the Suprematism movement – the abstract art focused on geometric forms. He also designed numerous books and journals, exhibitions, and propaganda posters for the communist regime in Russia and influenced the Bauhaus and Constructivist movements in Europe. In his early days, Lissitzky showed much interest in Jewish culture and many of his works integrated Jewish motifs (during the years 1915-1916, he took part in the ethnographic expedition headed by Shlomo An-ski to the Pale of Settlement). Wanting to promote Jewish culture in Russia after the revolution, he became engaged in designing and illustrating Yiddish children's books, creating several children's books which are considered pioneering masterpieces due to their graphics and typography. However, several years later, he abandoned the Jewish motifs in favor of developing a more abstract and universal artistic language.
In 1921, Lissitzky moved to Germany, where he served as the Russian cultural ambassador, engaged in forming connections between Russian and German artists and continued to design books and journals. Lissitzky, who perceived books as immortal artifacts, "monuments of the future" by his definition, used the medium as a tool for spreading the messages of avant-garde and his artistic perception, as indicated by the variety of books in whose design, production or illustration he took part – from children's books and poetry books and to catalogs, guidebooks and academic publications.
Lissitzky died in Moscow at the age of 51. In his final years, his artistic work was dedicated mainly to soviet propaganda; yet it seems that the same worldview accompanied his works throughout his life – the belief in goal-oriented creation (Zielbewußte Schaffen, the German term he coined) and the power of art to influence and bring about change.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, B.55.
Frilings-Toyt, a Eynakter funem Arbeter-Leben [Spring's Death: one-act play on the life of the workers], by Yosef Berson. Kovno-Berlin: Farlag Yiddish, "Ever" press (Berlin), 1921. Second edition.
Fine, clean copy of the play about the lives of Jewish workers, dedicated to the Jewish Freedom Fighters (printed dedication at beginning of book). The book was part of the Folks-Bibliotek Yiddish series, produced by the Farlag Yiddish publishing house. On the front wrapper, logo of the series designed by Ben-Zion Zuckermann – a bird surrounded with vegetal motifs, and the publishing house logo designed by El Lissitzky – priestly hands, shtetl landscape and gravestone.
22, [1] pages. Approx. 17 cm. Good condition. Minor defects. Tears to spine.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, ALE.76.
Elefandl ["The Elephant's Child"], by Rudyard Kipling. Illustrations by "Kraft" [El Lissitzky]. Berlin: Schweln, 1922. Yiddish.
Yiddish translation of the famous children's story "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling (1856–1936), from the collection entitled "Just So Stories." Illustrations by the Russian–Jewish avant–garde artist El Lissitzky (under the pen name "Kraft).
13, [2] pages. 28 cm. Good–fair condition. Stains and creases. Detached leaves. Marginal tears and open tears to some leaves (minor; one restored with paper). Tear to bottom part of the spine.
El (Eliezer Lazar Markovich) Lissitzky (1890–1941), a Jewish–Russian artist, designer, photographer, teacher, typographer and architect, a prominent and important member of Russian avant–garde.
Lissitzky, an architect by training, contributed much, together with his teacher and friend Kazimir Malevich, to the conceptualization and development of the Supremacist movement – the abstract art focused on geometric forms. He also designed numerous books and journals, exhibitions, and propaganda posters for the communist regime in Russia and influenced the Bauhaus and Constructivist movements in Europe.
In his early days, Lissitzky showed much interest in Jewish culture and many of his works integrated Jewish motifs (during the years 1915–1916, he took part in the ethnographic expedition headed by Shlomo An–ski to the Pale of Settlement). Wanting to promote Jewish culture in Russia after the revolution, he became engaged in designing and illustrating Yiddish children's books, creating several children's books which are considered pioneering masterpieces due to their graphics and typography. However, several years later, he abandoned the Jewish motifs in favor of developing a more abstract and universal artistic language.
In 1921, Lissitzky moved to Germany, where he served as the Russian cultural ambassador, engaged in forming connections between Russian and German artists and continued to design books and journals. Lissitzky, who perceived books as immortal artifacts, "monuments of the future" by his definition, used the medium as a tool for spreading the messages of avant–garde and his artistic perception, as indicated by the variety of books in whose design, production or illustration he took part – from children's books and poetry books and to catalogs, guidebooks and academic publications.
Lissitzky died in Moscow at the age of 51. In his final years, his artistic work was dedicated mainly to soviet propaganda; yet it seems that the same worldview accompanied his works throughout his life – the belief in goal–oriented creation (Zielbewußte Schaffen, the German term he coined) and the power of art to influence and bring about change.
Exhibition:
• Sanctity – Art – Aesthetics, Exhibition catalog, Mané-Katz Museum, 2011.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, B.2338.
"In Vald" [in the forest], children's story by Leib Kvitko, illustrated by Yisakhar Ber Rybak. Berlin: Schwellen, [1921]. Yiddish.
Rhymed children's sory by Leib Kvitko. Color cover and illustrations by Yisakhar Ber Rybak.
Fine copy.
15, [1] pages. Approx. 24X31 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor creases.
Yisakhar Ber Rybak (1897–1935), native of Elisavetgrad, Russia (today Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine), painter, graphic artist, and sculptor; one of the most prominent artists of the Russian–Jewish avant–garde. Studied at the Academy of Art in Kiev and in the studio of Aleksandra Ekster. In 1915–16, he was a member of the ethnographic expedition, headed by Shlomo An–ski, that aimed to document the culture of the Jewish communities of Podolia and Volhynia, and, working side–by–side with El Lissitzky, he produced copy–sketches of tombstones and monuments and documented the popular art he observed in the wooden synagogues of villages in the Pale of Settlement. For Rybak, this experience marked the beginnings of an enduring love affair with themes borrowed from popular Jewish tradition, and these themes and motifs provided the elemental foundations for his future work. He became one of the most active and outspoken artists of the "Kultur Lige" ("Culture League"), and taught drawing in the school that operated under the auspices of its art division. In 1921, he moved to Berlin, where he joined the "November Gruppe" and participated in joint exhibitions with other member artists. Rybak subsequently returned briefly to the Soviet Union and then moved to Paris, where he died in 1935.
See:
• Jüdische Lebenswelten, Katalog, edited by Andreas Nachama and Gereon Sievernich. Berlin, 1991, p.174, no. 8/27.
• Futur antérieur: l'avant–garde et le livre yiddish (1914–1939). Paris, 2009, p. 257, no. 151.
• Sanctity – Art – Aesthetics, Exhibition catalog, Mané-Katz Museum, 2011, p. 57.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, B.1360.
Foyglen [birds], by Leib Kvitko. Illustrations by Issachar Ber Ryback. Berlin: Schwellen, [ca.1922]. Yiddish.
Long children's poem, accompanied by large monochrome illustrations of various bird types, by Issachar Ber Ryback, who also made the color illustrations that appear on the front and rear covers.
15, [1] pages. Approx. 24X31 cm. Good condition. Minor stains. Minor marginal tears and creases to cover and spine.
Yisakhar Ber Rybak (1897–1935), native of Elisavetgrad, Russia (today Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine), painter, graphic artist, and sculptor; one of the most prominent artists of the Russian–Jewish avant–garde. Studied at the Academy of Art in Kiev and in the studio of Aleksandra Ekster. In 1915–16, he was a member of the ethnographic expedition, headed by Shlomo An–ski, that aimed to document the culture of the Jewish communities of Podolia and Volhynia, and, working side–by–side with El Lissitzky, he produced copy–sketches of tombstones and monuments and documented the popular art he observed in the wooden synagogues of villages in the Pale of Settlement. For Rybak, this experience marked the beginnings of an enduring love affair with themes borrowed from popular Jewish tradition, and these themes and motifs provided the elemental foundations for his future work. He became one of the most active and outspoken artists of the "Kultur Lige" ("Culture League"), and taught drawing in the school that operated under the auspices of its art division. In 1921, he moved to Berlin, where he joined the "November Gruppe" and participated in joint exhibitions with other member artists. Rybak subsequently returned briefly to the Soviet Union and then moved to Paris, where he died in 1935.
Exhibitions:
• Jüdische Lebenswelten, Katalog, edited by Andreas Nachama and Gereon Sievernich. Berlin, 1991, p.174, no. 8/28.
• Futur antérieur: l'avant–garde et le livre yiddish (1914–1939). Paris, 2009, p. 257, no. 152.
• Sanctity – Art – Aesthetics, Exhibition catalog, Mané-Katz Museum, 2011, p. 56.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, B.1361.
"Mayselekh far Kleyninke Kinderlekh" ("Little Tales for Little Children") – tales by Miriam Margolin, illustrated by Yisakhar Ber Rybak. [Petrograd]: Jewish section of the commissariat for peoples' education, 1922 (printed in Berlin). Yiddish.
Three booklets under the title "Mayselekh far Kleyninke Kinderlekh" were published in 1922. Each featured tales by Miriam Margolin, illustrated by Yisakhar Ber Rybak (full–page, black and white illustration facing each tale).
This is a copy of the third booklet (as indicated by the numeral III, printed in the lower right corner of the front cover.)
[14] leaves (leaves 2-3 bound upside down). 21.5X27.5 cm. Good condition. Minor stains. Inscriptions and stamps. Tears and worming, professionally restored (minor damage to cover illustrations).
Yisakhar Ber Rybak (1897–1935), native of Elisavetgrad, Russia (today Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine), painter, graphic artist, and sculptor; one of the most prominent artists of the Russian–Jewish avant–garde. Studied at the Academy of Art in Kiev and in the studio of Aleksandra Ekster. In 1915–16, he was a member of the ethnographic expedition, headed by Shlomo An–ski, that aimed to document the culture of the Jewish communities of Podolia and Volhynia, and, working side–by–side with El Lissitzky, he produced copy–sketches of tombstones and monuments and documented the popular art he observed in the wooden synagogues of villages in the Pale of Settlement. For Rybak, this experience marked the beginnings of an enduring love affair with themes borrowed from popular Jewish tradition, and these themes and motifs provided the elemental foundations for his future work. He became one of the most active and outspoken artists of the "Kultur Lige" ("Culture League"), and taught drawing in the school that operated under the auspices of its art division. In 1921, he moved to Berlin, where he joined the "November Gruppe" and participated in joint exhibitions with other member artists. Rybak subsequently returned briefly to the Soviet Union and then moved to Paris, where he died in 1935.
Exhibition:
• Sanctity – Art – Aesthetics, Exhibition catalog, Mané-Katz Museum, 2011.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, B.1362.
"Kinder–Velt" [Children's World], poems for children, by Boris (Ber) Smolar. Illustrations by Yisakhar Ber Rybak. Berlin: Schweln, [ca, early 1920s]. Yiddish.
Fine copy of the book "Kinder–Velt", comprising rhyming Yiddish poems, by the teacher, journalist and Yiddish author, Boris Smolar (1897–1986). The poems are accompanied by large illustrations of a superb quality, by Yisakhar Ber Rybak.
16 pages. Approx. 31.5 cm. Good condition. Minor stains. Minor marginal tears (few tears professionally restored). Rebound with string.
Yisakhar Ber Rybak (1897–1935), native of Elisavetgrad, Russia (today Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine), painter, graphic artist, and sculptor; one of the most prominent artists of the Russian–Jewish avant–garde. Studied at the Academy of Art in Kiev and in the studio of Aleksandra Ekster. In 1915–16, he was a member of the ethnographic expedition, headed by Shlomo An–ski, that aimed to document the culture of the Jewish communities of Podolia and Volhynia, and, working side–by–side with El Lissitzky, he produced copy–sketches of tombstones and monuments and documented the popular art he observed in the wooden synagogues of villages in the Pale of Settlement. For Rybak, this experience marked the beginnings of an enduring love affair with themes borrowed from popular Jewish tradition, and these themes and motifs provided the elemental foundations for his future work. He became one of the most active and outspoken artists of the "Kultur Lige" ("Culture League"), and taught drawing in the school that operated under the auspices of its art division. In 1921, he moved to Berlin, where he joined the "November Gruppe" and participated in joint exhibitions with other member artists. Rybak subsequently returned briefly to the Soviet Union and then moved to Paris, where he died in 1935.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, B.2337.
Dos Kelbl [The Calf], Mendele Mocher Sforim. Warsaw: Kultur Lige, 1922. Yiddish.
Excerpts from "Sefer HaBehemot" by Mendele Mocher Sforim, with small illustrations by Joseph Tchaikov. Cover and title page with an identical illustration designed by Tchaikov.
14, [1] pages, approx. 21X2705 cm. Good condition. Minor tears, some open tears (mainly to cover and spine).
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, B.1407.
Four books with wrappers and illustrations designed by Joseph Chaikov:
1. Zilber-Hor [Silver Hair], poems by Menashe Halpern. Moscow: Khaver, 1918.
78, [2] pages.
2. Shveln [Thresholds], poems by Peretz Markish. Kiev: Yiddisher Folks-Farlag, 1919.
163 pages, [3] leaves.
3. Samet [Velvet], poems by L. Reznick [Lipe Reznik]. Kiev: Kultur Lige, 1922.
39, [1] pages.
4. Bereshit, Part I, literary anthology including works by Isaac Babel, Yocheved Bat-Miriam, Gershon Hanovits and others (no other parts were published). Moscow-Leningrad (Berlin: Gutenberg), 1926.
[1], 199, [5] pages.
Four books. Size and condition vary. The items were not thoroughly examined, and are being sold as is.
Joseph Moisevich Chaikov (1888-1979) – Kiev-born Jewish sculptor, graphic artist, painter, educator and theoretician. Chaikov studied in Paris during the years 1910-1914 and participated in the Parisian Salon d'Automne exhibition in 1913. After World War I, he was one of the founders of Kultur Lige in Kiev, taught sculpture and illustrated books – mostly children's books – and in the years after the revolution, also designed propaganda banners and posters. In 1921, the Melukhe-farlag publishing house in Kiev published his treatise "Sculpture", which is considered the first Yiddish book on sculpture and focuses on avant-garde in sculpture and the place of sculpture in Jewish art. During the years 1923-1930 he taught cubist sculpture inspired by Russian futurism in Moscow, at the Vkhutemas – Higher Art and Technical Studios (alongside Alexander Rodchenko and El Lissitzky) and was also appointed the head of the union of Russian sculptors.
During the next decades, Chaikov continued to work in a variety of artistic styles and media, moving away from the style that characterized his early work.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, B.1418, B.1423, B.1431, B.1428.
Br. Grimm maiselakh [Grimm Brothers' Tales], translated by N. Luria [Noah Luria]. Illustrations by Joseph Chaikov. [Kiev]: Kultur Lige, [1922]. Yiddish.
Three tales by the Grimm Brothers, translated to Yiddish, with fine illustrations by Joseph Chaikov. Cover design and headings by Chaikov.
Rare copy with original paper wrappers.
47, [1] pages. 18 cm. Good condition. Some stains. Some inscriptions. Stamp on wrappers. Minor marginal tears to some leaves (not affecting text or illustrations). Wrappers slightly damaged, with inscription on edge.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, B.1403.