Veshch' – Gegenstand – Objet: Mezhdunarodnoe obozrenie sovremennogo iskusstva – Internationale Rundschau der Kunst der Gegenwart – Revue internationale de l'art moderne. Nr. 3.
Berlin: 1922. First edition. In original paper. 24 p. Cover chipped, with small loss at one corner; otherwise in very good condition.
Final and rarest issue of Lissitzky’s Veshch’, a landmark Constructivist journal banned in the Soviet Union.
Third and final issue of Veshch’ (Objet), one of the key publications of international Constructivism, issued in trilingual form (Russian, German, French). Edited by Ilya Ehrenburg with typographical design by El Lissitzky, the journal functioned as an early platform for the international dissemination of avant-garde artistic theory and practice in the immediate post-revolutionary period.
Produced in Berlin in 1922, the publication exemplifies Lissitzky’s pioneering approach to typography and graphic design. The pages are constructed with a deliberate architectural logic, employing asymmetry, dynamic spacing, and typographic contrast to direct the reader’s attention. The cover, with its characteristic Proun element, reflects the integration of his abstract visual language into printed form and remains a defining example of early Constructivist design.
Issue no. 3 was banned from distribution in the Soviet Union following shifts in Bolshevik cultural policy. With its circulation effectively blocked in Russia, the continuation of the journal became untenable, and the projected fourth issue—intended to address Soviet art and literature—was never realized. As a result, this final number is both the rarest and the most historically charged of the series.
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Price: €30,000.00