Gemini Art Reference & Illustrated Books: Russian Art & Literature

Home   (Bakst, Leon: 1866-1924) Alexandre, Arsene. The Decorative Art of Leon BAKST. London: The Fine Art Society, 1913, first edition, one of 250 copies, the complete book with text in English and 77 full-page heliogravure plates, including 50 in colors, with silver and gilt pochoir enhancements, most signed in the plate. Very handsome pictures of Leon Bakst's early ballets, i.e. L'Oiseau de Feu, Le Dieu Bleu, L'Apres-midi d'un Faune, Cleopatre and 10 others. In very good condition, clean and bright, one of the best copies we have ever seen. References: Monod 156; Colas 193; Hiler p.60; Mahe I,20. Pictures $4900   (Filonov, Pavel: 1988-1941) Kovtoune, E. & Zadora, S. Pavel FILONOV. Paris, 1990, Centre Georges Pompidou retrospective catalogue, first edition, 12 x 8 in., 260 pages, 80 color plates, 60 b&w illustrations, as new in wrappers. Text in French. Isbn 2-85850-531-4. One the best studies of the work of Pavel Filonov, the very influential Russian avant-garde artist, creator of the ”analytical art” school. $100   (Gontcharova, Nathalie [GoncharovaNatalia]: 1881-1962) Edited by Yevgenia Petrova. Natalia GONCHAROVA: The Russian Years. Palace Editions, 2004, first edition, 12 x 9 in., 342 pages with text in English and Russian and 219 color and 179 b&w illustrations; cloth in dust jacket; as new. The album reproduces some 400 works from various museums, galleries and private collections, brought together for the first time. The appendix includes a list of Natalia Goncharova's works and their whereabouts compiled by Ilya Zdanevich (1913) and an archive section of texts on Gocharova and her contemporaries, unpublished newspaper articles, reviews of her one-woman shows (1913-14), photographs and a chronicle of the artist's life and work. $75   (Kandinsky, Wassily: 1866-1944) Roethel, H. Wassily KANDINSKY: Das Graphische Werk. Köln: DuMont, 1970, first edition, one of a total edition of 1500 numbered copies on Phönix-Kunstdruck and Zerkall-Bütten paper, text in German, large stout 4to, 504 pages, hundreds of plates, many in color, including gatefolds, reproduced in photo-lithography. Blue cloth with gilt stamping, dust jacket and red paper over boards slipcase; overall, a close to perfect copy. Arntz I.59; Bolliger 9, 930. An outstanding, very expensive book production, not likely to be ever reproduced with matching quality. $2500   (Kandinsky, Wassily: 1866-1944) Derouet, C. & Boissel, J. Oeuvres de Vassily KANDINSKY. Paris: Centre G. Pompidou, 1985. The catalogue raisonné of works in the Musee National d'Art Moderne. 12 x 9 in. (30 x 23 cm), 495 pages with text in French and over 900 b&w and color illustrations, including 143 prints; a fine copy in wrappers. More than 200 illustrations represent artists other than Kandinsky. $100   (Kaplan, Anatoli L'vovich: 1902-1980). Zhenikh I Nevesta (Les Fiances). Gouache by Anatoli KAPLAN. Original gouache on paper, signed by Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan on bottom right; initialed and dated 1976 in the image. Framed (frame and glass a little scuffed); image size circa 7 x 5.5 in., wide margins; in excellent condition. Provenance: Cornette de Saint Cyr (Paris). $900   (Kaplan, Anatoli L'vovich: 1902-1980) Mayer, Rudolf. Anatoli KAPLAN Grafik 1937-1980. Dresden, 1990, first edition, number 10 of 20 hors-commerce copies, containing an original full page b&w lithograph signed in pencil by the artist. The matted litho is in a separate portfolio. 11.5 x 9 inches, 271 pages, text in German, about 300 color and b&w reproductions; cloth, dust jacket and slipcase; as new. Catalogue raisonné of the prints and book illustrations by Anatoli Lvovitch Kaplan, the important Russian-Jewish graphic artist. $375   (Kliun, Ivan Vasilievich 1870-1942) Kliunkova-Soloveichik, S. Ivan Vasilievich KLIUN. NY: IVK, 1994, first edition, 12.5 x 10.5 in., 379 pp with 500 illustrations, 150 in color; cloth in dust jacket; in new condition. The catalogue raisonné of works by Ivan Kliun, major representative of the Russian Avant-Garde. $175   (Klutsis, Gustav: 1895-1938; Kulagina, Valentina: 1902-1987) Tupitsyn, Margarita. Gustav KLUTSIS and Valentina KULAGINA: Photography and Montage After Constructivism. NY / Gottingen: International Center of Photography / Steidl; 2004, first edition, 12 x 10 inches; 255 pages with over 300 color and b&w illustrations; bound in boards, issued without dust jacket. First major study of the photomontages, posters and designs by Gustav Klutsis and Valentina Kulagina as important examples of the post-abstract Russian avant-garde. $55   (Kuper, Yuri) Pasternak, Boris. My Sister - Life. With etchings by Yuri KUPER. NY: Limited Editions Club, 1990, number 40 of 250 copies (according to the Publisher, fewer than 200 copies were actually printed) signed by the artist and illustrated with 6 original etchings by Yuri Kuper, printed in Paris on Hahnemuhle paper by Aldo Crommelynck. The poems, translated by Mark Rudman into English, are printed on handmade letterpress paper. 20 x 16.5 in., 84 leaves bound in half Nigerian Oasis morocco and hand-made paper over boards, fit in a rough gray linen-rayon slipcase; publisher's brochure laid in. A pristine copy of this very handsome livre d'artiste. ”…Kuper has exhibited at galleries in Europe and the US, and his work is part of the permanent collections of MoMA, Moscow Museum of Fine Arts and Fonds National d'Art Contemporain in Paris… Kuper's work recalls the Russian Constructivists' radical, dynamic, geometric abstractions in his use of strong diagonals and primarily geometric forms. This is evident in his images for ”My Sister - Life” where we find a cluster of matches scattered randomly from their box, a cup and saucer with its spoon resting partially on the table, or a pen cutting boldly across the pictorial space” - from publisher's Newsletter. Pictures $1750   (Lissitzky, El[ieser]: 1890-1941) Leering, Jean, preface. 1. Kestnermappe - Proun. With lithographs after El LISSITZKY. Rotterdam: Van Hezik-Fonds, 1992, first facsimile edition of 1000 copies, portfolio with one leaf of text and 6 lithographic leaves (5 in colors) after the original El Lissitzky portfolio published in Berlin in 1923 in the edition of 50 copies, most of the lithos and the lithographed colophon with printed Lissitzky signature. This edition produced in close collaboration with Lissitzky's heirs, with assistance from the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Loose leaves, contained in portfolio with a lithographic front panel; in new condition. Pictures $700   (Tschaschnik, Ilja Grigorjewitsch: 1902-1929) Intro by Stephan von Wiese. Ilja TSCHASCHNIK. Köln: Galerie Bargera, no date (197?), first edition, number 136 of 150 copies (total edition). Portfolio with one leaf of text, justification page and 6 serigraphs (4 with pochoir colors) after gouaches and drawings by Ilja Tschaschnik, each print with artist's facsimile signature, all leaves loose, contained in wrapper folder; this magnificent production is in new condition. Overall size 26.5 x 19 in. (66 x 48 cm). Provenance: Venator, Cologne. Pictures $1000   (Malevich, Kazimir Severinovich: 1878-1935) Nakov, Andrei. Kazimir MALEWICZ (Malevich): Catalogue Raisonne. Paris: Adam Biro, 2002, first edition, 12 x 10.25 in., 447 pages with about 1500 b&w illustrations; intro text in French and English; as new in dust jacket and slipcase. Kazimir Malevich's catalogue raisonne of paintings, drawings, watercolors and sculptures. $225   (Masjutin, Wassily Nikolayevich: 1884-1955) Pushkin (Puschkin), Alexander. Ruslan und Ludmila. Woodcuts by Wassilij (Wassily) MASJUTIN. Munich: Orchis Verlag, 1922, first Masjutin edition, Alexander Pushkin's poem (in German) is here illustrated with red border decorations on each leaf and 9 original full-page woodcuts by Wassilij Masjutin, brightly colored with pochoir by R. Muller; 67 text leaves; 13.5 x 10 in. (34 x 25 cm); bound in boards with an original pochoir on the front panel; in very good condition. References: Oestmann 17b. Pictures $1200   (Pougny, Jean [Puni, Ivan Albertovich]: 1892-1956) Jacques Prevert. L'Atelier, Poeme. (Jean) POUGNY: Dix Linogravures Originales 1914-1920. Paris: Au Vent d'Arles, 1964, first Pougny edition, one of 140 impressions (total edition 195). The complete book with a poem by Prevert, printed lithographically in facsimile , is illustrated with 10 original linocuts (each mounted on a modern support carton) by Jean Pougny (Ivan Puni), engraved by him in Leningrad, Vitebsk and Berlin between 1914 and 1920, 6 enhanced with bright pochoir colors and 4 with pochoirs in black by Cardin and Bogratchew after Pougny's designs. All leaves loose in the publisher's cloth folding case; an excellent copy. Likely artist's presentation copy with a laid in postcard inscribed, dated 1964 and signed by Jean Pougny. Pictures $3400   Sergey POTAPOV. Otdalyonnie Puty. Watercolor painting over etching. Moscow, 1987, edition of 10 (each example unique), signed and numbered, about 20-1/2 x 21-1/2 inches, in fine condition. Framed. A very interesting Russian mystic neo-symbolist artist now exhibiting at major international galleries. Pictures $400   Sergey POTAPOV. V Poyskah Chelovyeka. Watercolor painting over etching. Moscow, 1988, edition of 10 (each example unique), signed and numbered, about 23 x 20-1/2 inches, in fine condition. Framed. Pictures $400   Polenow, W. Labyrinth: Neue Kunst aus Moskau. Hamburg, 1989, first edition of this retrospective exh. catalogue, large 4to, 315 pages, numerous color and b&w plates, fine in wrappers. Text in German. $40   Tolstoy, V. RUSSIAN Decorative Arts 1917-1937. NY: Rizzoli, 1990, first edition, folio, 440 pages, numerous color and b&w illustrations; fine book in fine dust jacket. $75   (Russian Avant-Garde) Petrova, Yevgenia, foreword. Russian Futurism and David Burliuk, ”The Father of Russian Futurism”. St. Petersburg: Palace Editions & State Russian Museum, 2000, first edition, 13 x 10 in., 240 pp. with about 250 illustrations, mainly in color; cloth in dust jacket, as new. $150   (Russian Avant-Garde) Petrova, Yevgenia, foreword. A Legacy Regained: Nikolai Khardzhiev and the Russian Avant-Garde. St. Petersburg: Palace Editions & State Russian Museum, 2002, first edition, 12 x 10 in., 400 pp. with many illustrations in color and b&w; cloth in dust jacket, as new. ISBN: 3935298382. An important study. $85   (Russian). Slovo o Polku Igoreve (The Lay of Igor's Campaign). Lithographs by Victor Goppe. Moscow: B. Fridman, 2008, first edition with these illustrations, one of 12 copies on special hand-made paper (total edition 20), signed on the justification page by the publisher and the artist. The complete book with text in Russian and 13 original full page color lithographs by prominent Russian artist Viktor Goppe, 12 of the lithos signed and numbered by the artist. All leaves loose, as issued, in the original wrappers, linen chemise and slipcase; overall size 16 x 12.5 in (40 x 32 cm); in new condition, contained in the original mailing box. A very handsome book and interesting interpretation of the ancient Russian legend. Pictures $3500   Severianin, Igor. Crème des Violettes. Estonia: Yur'ev, 1919, first edition, 8 x 6 in., in the original publisher's wrappers. Minor very old waterstaining on front cover and upper margin of the first 10 or so pages, first flyleaf with a cut-out of approx. one inch across the page, otherwise very good. Provenance: comes from a prominent Soviet collection of Russian avant-garde books, same owner for over 40 years. $195   Riese, Hans-Peter. Eduard STEINBERG: Monographie. Cologne: Wienand, 1998, first edition, large 4to, 152 pages, text in German, 99 color plates + 38 b&w illustrations + photos; cloth, dust jacket, in new condition. The major monograph on the important and arguably the best contemporary Russian neo-constructivist artist. $65   Lavrentiev, A. Varvara STEPANOVA: The Complete Work. NY: The MIT Press, 1988, first edition, 4to, 190 pages, numerous b&w and color illustrations; fine book in fine dust jacket. $50   Home