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Lot Essay
The work in this and the following five lots were produced by Rodchenko from 1928-32 in preparation for the book Two Moscows which was intended to combine Rodchenko's photographs of the "New Moscow" with a series of caricature drawings of "Old Moscow", by the celebrated caricaturists Mikhail Kupriianov, Porfirii Krylov and Nikolai Sokolov, better known as "Kukryniksy". The book which was commissioned in 1933 by IZOGIZ (State Publishing House of Fine Arts) was to be designed by Varvara Stepanova.
The prints in the "New Moscow" series were produced during Rodchenko's most active period as a photographer. In 1928 he joined the organized group the October Association, started their photography section in 1930 and worked with them until his expulsion in 1932. He was harshly criticized at the time for the formalist tendencies in his work and movement away from photo-journalism. In essence, Rodchenko's use of unusual perspective and altered camera angles was perceived to remove the images from their context and reality.
In 1932 he began to work for the IZOGIZ as a photo correspondent and began photographing the city of Moscow and other areas of the USSR. Until the end of 1928 Rodchenko had used a Sept film camera to make his street photographs, but sometime in November of that year he acquired a Leica, the camera he used to make the works in this series.
The prints in the "New Moscow" series were produced during Rodchenko's most active period as a photographer. In 1928 he joined the organized group the October Association, started their photography section in 1930 and worked with them until his expulsion in 1932. He was harshly criticized at the time for the formalist tendencies in his work and movement away from photo-journalism. In essence, Rodchenko's use of unusual perspective and altered camera angles was perceived to remove the images from their context and reality.
In 1932 he began to work for the IZOGIZ as a photo correspondent and began photographing the city of Moscow and other areas of the USSR. Until the end of 1928 Rodchenko had used a Sept film camera to make his street photographs, but sometime in November of that year he acquired a Leica, the camera he used to make the works in this series.