Jun 18, 2020 - Sale 2538

Sale 2538 - Lot 39

Price Realized: $ 60,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 20,000
WLADYSLAW STRZEMINSKI (1893-1952) [LETTERFORM STUDY.] Gouache & pencil. Circa 1928.
11 3/4x8 3/4 inches, 29 3/4x20 1/4 cm.
Condition B+: flaking, minor creases and small stains at edges. Gouache and pencil, on artist's board; tipped to mat. Matted and framed.
Strzeminski was a Polish painter, typographer and designer who was associated with Kazimir Malevich during that artist's early interest in Suprematism. He is best known for his typographic, letterform work, most notably for book covers. While the colors of this study are reminiscent of the cover Strzeminski designed for Julian Przybo's 1930 Z Ponad, it is more likely an unrealized design for the cover of Praesens magazine, which was printed in May 1930 (with a cover designed by Strzeminski). Praesens was an avant garde architectural group focused on Constructivism and Functionalism. Mechanical Age pl. 5 (var), LACMA p. 336.

From the estate of Alexander Kaplen.