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ALEXANDR RODCHENKO (Russian, 1891-1956) PINE TREES IN PUSCHKINO inscribed “A. M. R.” in pencil on...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
ALEXANDR RODCHENKO (Russian, 1891-1956) PINE TREES IN PUSCHKINO inscribed “A. M. R.” in pencil on...
ALEXANDR RODCHENKO
(Russian, 1891-1956)
PINE TREES IN PUSCHKINO
inscribed “A. M. R.” in pencil on verso
collection stamp on verso
gelatin silver print
89?16 x 61?8 in. (21.7 x 15.6 cm)
1927
ESTIMATE: $8,000-12,000
PROVENANCE
From the artist to a Private Collection, PRAGUE
Private Collection, PRAGUE
LITERATURE
Novy LEF, No. 7, 1927
Leonid Volkov-Lannit, ALEKSANDR RODCHENKO, MOSCOW, Iskusstvo, 1968, p. 111 (illustrated)
Evelyn Weiss, ALEXANDER RODTSCHENKO: FOTOGRAFIEN 1920-1938, COLOGNE, Wienand Verlag, 1978, p. 96 (illustrated)
Alexander Nikolaevich Lavrentiev, RODCHENKO PHOTOGRAPHY, NEW YORK, Rizzoli, 1982, pl. 96 (illustrated)
ALEXANDRE RODTCHENKO, Collection Photo Poche, PARIS, Centre National de la Photographie, 1986, pl. 26 (illustrated)
Alexander Lavrentiev, ALEXANDER RODCHENKO-FOTOGRAFII, MOSCOW, Planeta, 1987, p. 74 (illustrated)
Alexander Nikolaevich Lavrentiev, RODCHENKO PHOTOGRAPHY 1924-1954, COLOGNE, Kˆnemann, 1995, p. 137, pl. 168 (illustrated)
Magdalena Dabrowski, Leah Dickerman and Peter Galassi, ALEKSANDR RODCHENKO, NEW YORK, The Museum of Modern Art, 1998, p. 236, cat. no. 195 (illustrated)
In response to an attack on this and other photographs by the magazine Soviet Photo, Rodchenko published a reply in the magazine LEF regarding the inherent difficulty of photographing “unorganized” nature. Rodchenko had been accused by the magazine of placing too much emphasis on formal elements in his photographs, instead of celebrating the young socialist state. In addition, formal similarities between his work and that of the Bauhaus artist L·szlÛ Moholy-Nagy sparked charges of plagiarism. Rodchenko vehemently denied any connection to the Bauhaus, disparaging their capitalist system and production of objects for the West. Instead, he felt that the strange viewpoints and formalist approach he had adopted were fundamentally socialist, for they had the power to alter the viewer’s sense of perception, allowing him to construct reality differently and, most importantly, to celebrate the way in which socialism was to fundamentally change all aspects of life. He firmly believed that the objects and buildings he photographed were all the more marvelous and meaningful because of their Soviet context. His statement “…the pine-tree trunks looked more industrial, like telegraph-poles” (Lavrentiev, RODCHENKO PHOTOGRAPHY 1924-1954, p. 136), indicates his belief that even nature itself would conform to the communist ideals of order, industrialism and production.