Auction 99 Part 1 Avant-Garde Art and Russian Literature from the Rachel and Joseph Brindt Collection

"Catalogue of the Posthumous Exhibition of the Artist-Constructor L. S. Popova" – Moscow, 1924 – Cover Design by Alexander Rodchenko

Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $1,500
Including buyer's premium

Л.С. Поnова 1889-1924 – Каталог посмертной выставки художника конструктора Л. С. Поповой, with an introduction by Osip Brik. Moscow: VKhUTEMAS, 1924. Russian.
A catalogue of the posthumous exhibition of the artist and designer Ljubov Popova, held in Moscow shortly after her death. The catalogue opens with a brief biographical essay on the artist and includes a list of works and 12 reproductions of her paintings and graphic deisgns.
Cover designed by Alexander Rodchenko.

12 pages + [12] plates (reproductions). 17 cm. Good-fair condition. Minor creases. Wear. Creases, tears, and small open tears to cover. Front and rear covers detached.
MoMA 546.



Ljubov Popova (Любо́вь Серге́евна Попо́ва; 1889-1924), a multidisciplinary artist painter, theater designer, and textile designer. She is recognized as one of the first artists to be associated with the Russian avant-garde. Born near Moscow into a wealthy family, she received a comprehensive art education that exposed her to a variety of styles. In her early works, Popova was influenced by Impressionism and Cubo-Futurism, and later gravitated towards Constructivism.


Alexander Rodchenko (Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Ро́дченко; 1891-1956), Russian artist, designer, sculptor, and photographer, member of the Constructivist movement. Rodchenko studied art in Kazan, Tatarstan, and Moscow. He began his career in Cubist and Futurist styles, later gravitating towards Suprematism and geometric abstraction, influenced by Kandinsky and Malevich. Rodchenko served as Vladimir Tatlin's assistant, was his student, and participated in a 1916 exhibition curated by Tatlin. Under his influence, in 1919 Rodchenko began creating three-dimensional works made from various materials (wood, metal, etc.), characterized by interlocking geometric shapes forming airy and dynamic compositions.

During the 1920s, he worked regularly with the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, illustrating and photographing his books, issues of the "Left Front of the Arts" (LEF; ЛЕФ) journal, as well as books and publications by other Russian Futurist and avant-garde creators, and regularly published his photographs in the press.

Rodchenko is considered one of the most versatile artists of the Russian avant-garde: he was among the leaders of the Productivist faction, which advocated strengthening the connection between art and industrial production, and between it and the working and consumer population, thus turning to furniture design and applied arts; later he was drawn to photography and photomontage and engaged in them extensively (considered one of the pioneers of the genre), designed posters, illustrated books, worked in graphics and typography, and created sets for theater and cinema.

Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956)
Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956)