Avant-Garde Illustration from Ursus Rare Books

Ursus Rare Books' latest catalogue (no. 356) is entitled Avant-Garde Illustration 1901-1986. That is a nice, concise title that sums up what you will find in this catalogue. There are famous names such as Picasso, Duchamp, Miro, and Man Ray. Then there are lesser known names, including those who toiled under the yoke of Stalin's Soviet Union and Mussolini's Fascist Italy. It wasn't easy to be an artist when you're work had to reflect the wishes of some brutal dictator, but that was the reality many talented artists faced. If only they could have worked in freedom... There is text in most of these works, but their appeal is clearly in the illustrations within. Here are a few examples.

Joan Miro is one of the most notable of 20^th century artists, a painter and sculptor, sort of a surrealist with his own touch. He came from Spain and was not noted for being particularly political until the time of the Spanish Civil War. Then, like so many other artists and writers, he became a supporter of the doomed Republican government. Pablo Picasso was the most famous of the Spanish artists so involved at the time of the war. Though not as well known then, Miro contributed a print that was included with an issue of Cahiers D'Art that featured Picasso's masterpiece, Guernica. This print features a colorful surreal image of a man, with a powerful right arm and clenched fist with the words Aidez Espagne (Help Spain). From 1937. Item 47. Priced at $7,500.

This next item is entitled La Fin du Monde filmée par l'Ange N.-D, published in 1919. It is the script for a film by Swiss writer Blaise Cendrars, but it is more notable for the illustrations provided by French artist Fernand Leger. Leger was described as at least partially a cubist, but like so many artists, his style evolved. Ursus defines his work as combining cubism and futurism. This work, Le Fin du Monde (end of the world), Ursus says, “offers an eclectic symphony of shapes and colours, expressing the essence of modernity.” Leger has used numerous geometric shapes with splashes of bright colors to create what was described as “a biblio-philic masterpiece.” Item 8. $8,500.

Item 15 is Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), containing 100 plates of caricature drawings by the German artist George Grosz, published in 1923. It features caricatures of various types of people from Weimar Germany. Ursus describes his drawings as “savage.” They range from the overstuffed wealthy to soldiers, prostitutes, and other sorts of people and behaviors. It was a decadent time though it would soon get much worse. Ursus notes that complete copies are hard to find as many were broken up to remove the illustrations. Item 15. $6,500.

I'm not sure where this fits in the category of works of art. It comes from the 1930s Soviet Union, a time and place with some talented artists but you certainly didn't want to create anything that might not be of Stalin's liking. Still, some artists managed to display their creativity while staying within the bounds of acceptability. This one lacks the avant-garde sensibility of some of the works they created and yet the illustrations are quite dramatic. The title is Kolbasy i miasokopchenosti (sausages and smoked meats) by Abram Konnikov, published in 1938. Konnikov was a notable figure in the Soviet food industry at the time and the author of a cookbook. The illustrations are exceptional even if not particularly creative. Ursus notes, “this monumental ode to the sausage can certainly lay claim to being one of the outstanding trade catalogues of the twentieth century, with a definite surreal quality, achieved by the disparity between the massiveness of the book and its mundane subject matter. Unlike many of the Soviet books of the period no attempt was made to achieve an interesting work through design.” There are 124 lithographs of sausages, frankfurters, ham, and other delicacies. Of course, none of this was available to peasants in the Soviet Union, this being something of a kitchen table top book for wealthy party officials who could afford such delicacies. Item 52. $12,500.

This book comes from Japan, by Yoshikazu Suzuki and Sohachi Kimura. It is two volumes Ginza Kaiwai with Ginza Haccho. The first volume is a history of the Ginza, a noted upscale shopping district in Tokyo. The second houses a large fold-out photographic panorama, one panorama running along the top of the page, the other (upside down) along the bottom. This is noted as being a precursor to Edward Ruscha's famous All the Buildings on the Sunset Strip which presents that famed Hollywood boulevard in a similar format. Item 62. $3,750.

Ursus Rare Books may be reached at 212-772-8787 or pkraus@ursusbooks.com. Their website is www.ursusbooks.com.