Euroasian Jewish News
EAJC-Supported Book Presented in Kyiv
20.01.2012 On January 18, the Kyiv book store "E" held a presentation of the album and catalogue titled "Book Illustration of Cultur Lige Artists," which was published with Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) support in the "Duh i Litera" publishing house."
In Modernist culture, to which Cultur Lige had been ideologically devoted, the illustrated book was one of the most important spheres for the synthesis of the arts and for cultural experiments. At the same time, the Jewish illustrated book inevitably imbibed the entirety of the aesthetic search and ideological contradictions particular to Jewish literature and art. These search and contradictions were reflected in full in the Cultur Lige book illustrations.
Thus the illustrated books the artists had created are not only an important stage in their creative career, but also, likely, one of the most noticeable and convincing testaments to the search for a national culture and the achievements of the Jewish avant-garde art of the first quarter of the XX century,
The album includes copies of work by: N. Altman, M. Epstein, G. Inger, E. Lisitsky, I.-B. Rybak, A. Tyshler, I. Chaikov, M. Shagal, N. Shifrin, S. Shor, and includes works from over 70 books ilustrated by Cultur Lige artists. Many covers and illustrations are being published for the first time.
The book begins with a solid introduction by Israeli art historian Gilel Kazovsky, who is the author of most studies on the Cultur Lige. The article examines the Cultur Lige phenomenon in the context of artistic processes of the early XX century.
The presentation was held by editor-in-chief of the "Duh i Litera" publishing house, EAJC General Council member Leonid Finberg, book illustrator Pavel (Pinchas) Fishel, and art historian Dmitry Gorbachev. The album continues in some ways the book "Cultur Lige: Avant-Garde Art of the 1910-1920s." If the first book presented the works of Cultur Lige artists in their entirety, the second book calls attention to one of the brightest, but least studied styles in which the Cultur Lige artists worked - book illustrations.
|
|