GUSTAV KLUTSIS (1895-1938) [THE PURPOSE OF THE UNION IS: THE OVERTHROW OF THE BOURGEOISIE / KARL MARX.] 1933.
59 1/4x40 3/4 inches, 150 1/2x103 1/2 cm. Ogiz-Igoziz, Moscow.
Condition B: extensive overpainting over replaced losses in margins and central image; water staining at top and bottom, affecting image and text; repaired tears, creases and abrasions in image and along vertical and horizontal folds. Mounted on Japan.
"The purpose of the union is: the overthrow of the bourgeoisie, the rule of the proletariat, the destruction of the old, resting on the class opposites of bourgeois society, and the creation of a new society without classes and private property. K. Marx." Born in Latvia, Klutsis studied at the influential Svomas/Vkhutemas art school under Malevich and Pevsner, and then went on to become a founding member of "October," a group of artists dedicated to serving the needs of the proletariat throughout the USSR. Klutsis became the Soviet Union's most prolific photomontage virtuoso, designing emblematic posters to inspire the Communist cause throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1938, despite his exceptional work for the cause, Stalin had Klutsis arrested and executed along with other Latvian. Rare. We have found no other examples at auction. Klutsis / Kulagina p. 64.