Auction 87 - Jewish and Israeli Art, History and Culture
Including: sketches by Ze'ev Raban and Bezalel items, hildren's books, avant-garde books, rare ladino periodicals, and more
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1. портрет натана альтмана ["Nathan Altman's Portrait"], by Abram Efros. Moscow: Шиповник, 1922. Russian.
Brief monograph on the output of the Russian-Jewish avant-garde artist Nathan Altman (Натан Исаевич Альтман, 1889-1970), with pictures representing several of his works. An illustration by Altman (a reproduction, reduced in size, of a painting from the series "Judische Graphik" – "Jewish Graphics") appears on the front cover.
101, [3] pp., 18.5 cm. Good condition. One gathering detached. Loose leaves. Minor stains. Cover partly detached, with tears (including some open tears, not affecting print) to edges. Spine torn, mended (non-professionally) with strips of adhesive tape. Notation in red pencil on back cover.
2. S. Chekhonin, by Abram Efros and Nikolay Punin. Moscow-Leningrad: State Press, [ca. 1924]. English.
Abram Markovich Efros (1888-1954) and Nikolay Punin (1888-1953) dealing with the life and work of the multi-disciplinary Russian artist and designer Sergey Chekhonin (Сергей Васильевич Чехонин, 1878-1936). With 12 plates (on paper of varying thickness; some in color), as well as numerous in-text illustrations, featuring Chekhonin's works: paintings, book illustrations, porcelain plates, stamps, currency bills, bookplates, and more.
The book was published in Russian, French, German, and English.
See: Nina Gurianova et al., "The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934," exhibition catalogue, MoMA, New York, 2002, Item No. 530.
104, [2] pp. + [12] plates, 30 cm. Good condition. Stains. Several leaves and plates detached. Cover detached. Tears (including some open tears, not affecting print) to cover and spine. Notation in blue pencil on back cover.
С. Чехонин ["S. Chekhonin"], by Abram Efros and Nikolay Punin. Moscow-Petrograd: Государственное Издательство [State Publisher], [ca. 1924]. Russian.
Two articles by Abram Markovich Efros (1888-1954) and Nikolay Punin (1888-1953) dealing with the life and work of the multi-disciplinary Russian artist and designer Sergey Chekhonin (1878-1936). With 12 plates (on paper of varying thickness; some in color), as well as numerous in-text illustrations, featuring Chekhonin's works: paintings, book illustrations, porcelain plates, stamps, currency bills, bookplates, and more.
Illustrated cover.
In addition to the Russian edition, the book was published in French, German, and English.
See: Nina Gurianova et al., "The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934," exhibition catalogue, MoMA, New York, 2002, Item No. 530.
112, [1] pp. + [12] plates., 29 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains (numerous stains to cover). Notation in pen on front flyleaf. Inked stamps on back flyleaf and back cover. Several leaves partly detached. Closed and open tears edges of cover and several leaves, some restored.
Sergey Chekhonin (Сергей Васильевич Чехонин), influential Soviet Russian graphic artist, painter, and ceramic artist; member of the "Mir Iskusstva" ("Мир искусства": "World of Art") movement. Developed the idea of using porcelain vessels as a medium for disseminating Soviet propaganda. Became politically active following the revolution of 1905, and maintained close ties with revolutionary circles. This involvement was expressed through the political caricatures he created for magazines and the books he illustrated and designed. In the years 1918-23, he became the first artistic director following the October Revolution (1917) of the "State Porcelain Factory" (formerly the "Tsarist Porcelain Factory") that operated under the auspices of the Fine Arts Department of the Narkompros – the People's Commissariat for Education, under the directorship of Anatoly Lunacharsky. Chekhonin adhered to a Constructivist design concept that conformed with the spirit of the times under the dictates of the new ideology. He was at one point replaced by Nikolay Punin, but returned to his position as the institution's artistic director in the years 1925-27. As a graphic designer, he was responsible for the design of currency bills and postage stamps, and was a partner in the design of the flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Left Russia in 1928, and took up residence in France and Germany, where he continued to design ceramic vessels and theater sets and illustrate and design books.
The earliest known monograph on Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster (1882-1949), a Ukrainian-born avant-garde and cubo-futurist painter, and stage and costume designer. Ekster was among the most notable artists of the Russian and Ukrainian avant-garde. She lived and worked in a number of cities, among them Kiev, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna, and Paris, and taught and influenced many artists, including Boris Aronson, Yissakhar Ber Rybak, and Yitzhak Frenkel.
The text is followed by 39 illustration plates; four additional plates (three of them in color) are tipped-in. These offer glimpses of Ekster's work in a number of different fields, namely painting and costume and stage design.
The author, art critic Yakov Alexandrovich Tugendhold (1882-1928), was also responsible for the earliest Russian-language monograph on Marc Chagall, in addition to a wide variety of other art-related books. He served as an expert consultant and purchaser for art collector Sergei Shchukin's renowned collection of Impressionist art.
31, [1] pp. + [4] plates, XXXIX plates (missing plate no. II; another copy of plate XIII is bound instead, upside down), 21.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, including minor dampstains to edges of some leaves. Minor creases and blemishes. Minor tears to edges of cover and to spine.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.
Guide containing detailed information regarding various print techniques, including lithography, copper engraving, woodcuts and mezzotint. The guide has numerous illustrations (both within the text and on separate pages): Prints by famous artists from different periods, including Masjutyn's own works. Cover design by Masjutyn.
Wasyl Nikolayevich Masjutyn (Василий Николаевич Масютин, 1884-1955). Born in Riga; educated at a military school. Studied art in Moscow, and specialized in printmaking. Fought for roughly two years as a front-line soldier in the Russian army during WWI. Lived in Berlin from 1921, working as a painter, sculptor, and cinematic set and backdrop designer, but dealing mostly in graphic design and book illustration for a number of different Russian publishers, in particular illustrating the works of classic Russian authors such as Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, and others.
133, [1] pp., 22 cm. Good condition. Stains (mostly to cover). Abrasion to title page. Several leaves partly detached. Cover detached. Minor tears to edges of cover; open tears to spine.
Text by Gaston Bachelard, with 96 reproductions in black and white and 24 original lithographs in color, after drawings on biblical themes made by Chagall in 1958-1959. Cover designed by Chagall.
36 cm. Good condition. Minor stains (mostly to edges). Blemished and minor tears to boards and spine.
2. "Ezor Magen uNe'um Ben HaDam" (Hebrew), by Uri Zvi Greenberg. Jerusalem: Sadan, 1930. Linocut by Leon Finn on the front cover.
3. "BeIkvei HaShir, words of praise and research on the poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg, published from time to time" (Hebrew). Jerusalem: HaMiloh, Tamuz 1949.
4. "Poems" (Hebrew), by Uri Zvi Greenberg, publisher not indicated. Poet's portrait by Reuben Rubin on the first leaf.
Size and condition vary. Stains and blemishes (mostly minor); single long tear to one booklet. Blemishes and wear to covers (one detached, one with long tears and open tears to spine).
1. Malkosh, Shirim Aleph [Last Rain, Poems I], by Yaakov Peremen. Jaffa-Tel Aviv: M. Shoham, 5686 [1926]. Cover designer not indicated.
2. Mashiah Ben Yosef [Messiah son of Joseph], by Beinush Steiman. Translated from the Yiddish by Yehuda Ya'ari. Jerusalem: HaStudia Hadramatit "Masad, " 1926/27. The logo of the "Masad" theater group printed on the cover may have been designed by Arieh Elhanani, who was responsible for the costume and set design of the stage production "Messiah son of Joseph."
3. Adam, by Samuel Bass. Tel Aviv: Hedim, 5687 [1927]. Title page design and illustration by Nahum Paley (1889-1956).
4. BaSha'ar, Mahzor Shirim [In the Gateway: A Cycle of Poems], by Lyova (Yehuda) Almi. Jerusalem, 5687 [1927]. The design of the cover and the mounted illustration (intact in the current copy; usually torn off) are by Pinhas Litvinovsky.
5. El HaShemesh, Drama BeShalosh Ma'arakhot [Toward the Sun, Drama in Three Acts] by Yonah Rigai. Tel Aviv: Nivim, 5688 [1928]. Cover designer not indicated.
6. Ein Rahel (Agadah) [Ein Rahel (A Legend)], by Sara Gluzman. Tel Aviv, 5694 [1934]. Illustrated by David Hendler.
7. MiBayit, Shirim [From Within, Poems], by Avraham Broides. Tel Aviv: Davar, 5696 [1936]. Cover design: Moshe Vorobeichic.
Size and condition vary. Good overall condition. In some books, stains, tears, and creases to edges of covers.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.
The collection comprises approx. 80 fine bookplates, including woodcuts, from various personal libraries. One bookplate designed by Pesach Ir-Shay.
Several duplicate copies.
Size and condition vary.
Approximately one half of the bookplates originate from bookstores and publishers in the Netherlands, most of them under Jewish ownership: Joachimsthal, E. Mozes Azn, P. A. Hemerijck (A. T. Kleerekoper), N.M. Lowenstam, and others.
Also included: • Label of the center of Hebrew literature "LeMa'an HaSefer, Tel Aviv (several copies). • Labels of Jewish bookstores in Paris, Strasbourg and Metz. • Labels of Jewish bookstores and publishers in Germany, including Rubin Mass, Charlottenburg; S.W. Waldmann, Frankfurt; M. Glogau, Hamburg; Jakob B. Brandeis, Breslau; Ph. Goldmann, Hannover; and others. • Labels from bookstores in Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Palestine.
Size and condition vary. Numerous duplicate labels.
A short story by Shmuel Yosef Agnon, translated to German by his friend, the lawyer Max Strauß.
The German translation of the story was published in July, 1917, in Martin Buber's Jewish monthly "Der Jude" – before the Hebrew original was ever printed (see: "S.Y. Agnon: A Biography, " Dan Laor, Schocken, 1998, p. 112; Hebrew).
Decorative initial designed by Joseph Budko.
Copy no. 93 of a limited edition of 400 copies.
40, [2] ff., 15 cm. Good condition. Some minor stains. Pencil inscriptions. Traces of a sticker on inside front cover. Faded inked stamp on one endpaper. Minor stains and abrasions to cover. Stains to spine. Inscription on spine faded.
Soncino-Gesellschaft der Freunde des jüdischen Buches ("Soncino Society of Friends of the Jewish Book"), 1924. German.
Bibliophile edition of the book of Jonah. Printed in the "Judith-Type" typeface, designed by the publisher and typographer Christian Heinrich Kleukens.
Copy no. 226/250 (numbered in colophon). According to the colophon, this is "the first special publication of the Soncino-Gesellschaft".
11, [1] pp., 25.5 cm. Good condition. Original cover, stained and slightly worn.
In 1931-1933, the Soncino Gesellschaft der Freunde des Jüdischen Buches ("Soncino Society of Friends of the Jewish Book" in Germany, published a bibliophile edition of the Five Books of the Torah. The edition was printed in 850 copies; the type and initials were designed by Marcus Behmer.
The Book of Bereshit and chapters 1-3 of the Book of Shemot were printed first, followed by the rest of the books of the Torah (Soncino-Gesellschaft intended to go on to publish the rest of the books of the Bible, yet the drastic political changes in Germany brought the project to an abrupt end).
Enclosed is a prospectus (4 pages) in German, about the present edition (1931).
The Book of Bereshit is complete; Book of Shemot – chapter 1 to chapter 3, verse 3. With general title page for the Five Books of the Torah.
[36] ff., 40 cm. Good condition. Stains to first and last pages, and to edges of some leaves. Loose gatherings. Blank card boards (stained), partially detached. Without spine.
Enclosed prospectus: [1] folded leaf (4 pages), 40 cm. Good condition. Fold lines and minor creases. Minor stains and tears.