Rodchenko: Design

Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (1891-1953) was a Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer. One of the founders of constructivism and Russian design, he was married to and collaborated with the artist Varvara Stepanova. Rodchenko was one of the most versatile Constructivist and Productivist artists to emerge after the Russian Revolution. He worked as a painter and graphic designer before turning to photomontage and photography. His photography was socially engaged, formally innovative, and opposed to a painterly aesthetic. Concerned with the need for analytical-documentary photo series, he often shot his subjects from odd angles usually high above or below to shock the viewer and to postpone recognition. He wrote: "One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again." This concise, comprehensive and informative work focuses largely on Rodchenko's graphic work in the form of book jackets, posters and advertising. AUTHOR: John Milner is Visiting Professor at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. SELLING POINTS: A new title in the exquisite Design series and an excellent introduction to the life and work of this versatile Russian artist 100 colour and 50 b/w illustrations