Feb 07, 2008 - Sale 2135

Sale 2135 - Lot 58

Price Realized: $ 12,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 9,000 - $ 12,000
RODCHENKO, ALEXANDER (1891-1956)
Vladimir Mayakovsky at the Beach. Silver print, 6 3/4x4 3/4 inches (17.1x12.1 cm.), with Rodchenko's signature, in pencil, and notations on verso. Circa 1928
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Additional Details

From a private Russian collection; to the present owner in 1993.


Alexander Rodchenko was a graphic designer and painter before turning to photomontage and photography. From 1923 to 1928 he often collaborated with Vladimir Mayakovsky on the design and layout of Constructivist publications "Lef" and "Novye Lef." Many of Rodchenko's photographs were used in, or appeared as, covers on these journals. His pictures did not include unnecessary detail but concentrated on the placement of subjects and objects in the spatial plane and often emphasized a diagonal line in the composition.


In this wonderful picture Mayakovsky is clearly enjoying a break from work but, nonetheless, is photographed by his photographer partner. In Rodchenko's anthology, "Experiments for the Future," he speaks about his collaboration with Mayakovsky in the design of advertising campaigns for state companies. Their trademark was "Advertising-Constructor MAYAKOVSKY-RODCHENKO;" together they made about fifty posters, packages, wrappers, approximately one hundred billboards, advertisements, and illustrations.