"Oxen", poems by Isaac (Itzik) Kipnis. Cover designed by Mark Epshtein. Kiev: Vidervuks, 1923. Yiddish.
Modernistic poems by the Soviet Yiddish poet Itzik Kipnis, written during the years 1921–1922; two parts: "Regen–Stoyib" [literally: "Rain Dust"] and "Frayid" [Joy].

23, [1] pp. 17 cm. Good condition. Minor stains. Booklet rebound, with original paper wrappers pasted on the new cover. Tear to a new endpaper.

Isaac (Itzik) Kipnis (1896–1974), born in Ukraine, was a children's author, Yiddish poet and translator. In the 1930s he was persecuted by the government and his work was banned due to his perceived reactionist (meaning Zionist) views. In 1948 he was deported to the Gulag along other Jewish artists. Although he was set free after Stalin's death, he was only allowed back in Kiev in the 1960s.

Mark Epshtein (1897–1949), born in Bobruisk, was a graphic designer, painter, sculptor and set designer. He was educated in a traditional cheder, and later studied at the Kiev Art Institute and (in 1918) under artist Alexandra Ekster. That same year he exhibited his work in an exhibition dedicated to Jewish artists and took part in founding the art department within the Kultur Lige. His style was largely influenced by modernist Jewish authors and poets active in the same artistic circles as himself in Kiev, such as Der Nister (Pinchas Kahanovich), David Bergelson and Yekhezkl Dobrushin. Epshtein remained active in Kiev even after the Ukraine SSR was established and the Kultur Lige was taken over by the communist authorities, although most of his fellow artists opted to leave town. Between 1923 and 1931 Epshtein headed the Kiev Jewish School of Industrial Art (the former Kultur Lige art department, nationalized by the communist government), and designed stage sets and costumes for theaters in Kiev and Kharkiv.
In 1932, after the school as well as other remaining Kultur Lige institutions were shut down, he had to leave Kiev for Moscow. No work of his was exhibited during his later years.

See:

• Exhibition Catalogue "Futur antérieur". Paris: Skira Flammarion, 2009. Pp. 116, no. 89.
• Sanctity – Art – Aesthetics, Exhibition catalog, Mané-Katz Museum, 2011.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, B.1421.