
Luke Batterham
Senior Valuer
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Senior Valuer
"One of the most beautifully produced magazines of the twentieth century (Photobook).
A good run USSR in Construction, published to promote Stalin's policies of industrialisation and the collectivisation in the wake of the first Five Year Plan. Under the direction of the art director Nikolai Troshin the magazine was boldy designed in a stridently modern style, employing "the best Soviet photographers [Max Alpert, Boris Ignatovich and others] and graphic designers... the magazine editorial became a hothouse of ideas...elaborate photomontage, innovative photography and fold-out pages" (Photobook). This run includes cover designs and artwork by El Lissitzky (8 issues) and Rodchenko (sometimes in conjunction with Varvara Stepanova, 7 issues). Each issue was devoted to a specific subject: Soviet Arctic; Moscow Meat Packing Plant; Soviet Science; Baltic-White Sea Canal; "Maxim Gorki" Agitational Air Squadron; Moscow Metro; Urals Car Works; Fearless Soviet Parachutists; Peasant's Red Navy; Kharkov Tractor Works; Cinema.
The magazine closed during the war, and was briefly relaunched in full colour in 1949. See illustration on preceding page.