PYATAKOV, G.L. (editor); ALPERT, M. (photographs)

USSR in Construction. 1934, No.1 (January)

Moscow: The State Publishing House of Graphic Arts, 1934. First Edition. Folio (42cm); photo-illustrated wrappers, saddle-stitched; [34]pp; illus.; text is entirely in English. Light wear to spine-fold and extremities, some mild handling to wrappers, with old ink price to upper front wrapper, and a few faint stains along upper margin of text; Very Good+.

Well-preserved issue of this landmark Soviet art magazine, issued from 1930 to 1941 to celebrate the achievements of the first two Five Year Plans and (through various foreign-language editions) to propagandize the stark contrast between the vibrant Soviet economy during this period and the stagnation of Western economies under capitalism. "All the visual strategies of the propaganda photobooks, designed by Lissitsky, Rodchenko and others...were developed in USSR in Construction, one of the most beautifully produced magazines of the twentieth century" (Parr-Badger, The Photobook, I:148).

The present issue is entirely devoted to extolling the virtues of the Bobriki Chemical Combinat and the emergence of a serious chemical industry in the USSR.

Price: $500.00

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