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ALEXANDER ZHITOMIRSKY, (Russian, 1907-1993), DON'T SET A FIRE, inscribed in Cyrillic and dated, i...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,500.00 USD
ALEXANDER ZHITOMIRSKY, (Russian, 1907-1993), DON'T SET A FIRE, inscribed in Cyrillic and dated, i...
ALEXANDER ZHITOMIRSKY
(Russian, 1907-1993)
DON'T SET A FIRE
inscribed in Cyrillic and dated
in pencil on verso of mount
gelatin silver photomontage
mounted on board
195/8 x 137/8 in. (49.8 x 35.2 cm)
mount: 237/8 x 173/4 in. (60.6 x 45.1 cm)
1942
ESTIMATE: $2,500-3,500
<p>PROVENANCE
Private Collection, PRAGUE
Private Collection, NORTH AMERICA
<p>LITERATURE
ALEXANDER ZHITOMIRSKY: POLITICAL PHOTOMONTAGE, Moscow, 1983, p. 24 (illustrated)
ALEXANDER ZHITOMIRSKY: POLITICAL PHOTOMONTAGE, 1994, San Francisco, Robert Koch Gallery, 1994, p. 5 (not illustrated, but referenced in the text)
Alexander Zhitomirsky turned to photomontage after the onset of World War II. His images were illustrated in various Russian anti-war propaganda leaflets that circulated throughout the German army, who had attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. Because his images successfully demoralized many enemy soldiers, Zhitomirsky was included on the Third Reich's "Most Wanted" list, issued by the German Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels. Though not reproduced in ALEXANDER ZHITOMIRSKY: POLITICAL PHOTOMONTAGE (1994), this image is referenced by John Heartfield in his essay "Born in the Flames of War." "In the photo-montage DON'T SET A FIRE we see the grief-stricken, pretty and expressive face of an ordinary woman, personifying the suffering of an entire nation, brought on by this bestial war. In the right corner is pictured a German soldier dragging a canister of gasoline. When the vanquished Nazi army retreated, German soldiers were throwing such canisters into Soviet homes to ignite them" (ALEXANDER ZHITOMIRSKY: POLITICAL PHOTOMONTAGE, 1994, San Francisco, Robert Koch Gallery, 1994, p. 5).