THE AVANT GARDE IN PRINT
1: FUTURISM
2: LISSITZKY
3: DADA
4: TYPOGRAPHY [Master Designers in Print 1]
5: TYPOGRAPHY [Master Designers in Print 2]
Arthur A. Cohen
Cohen, Arthur A.: THE AVANT GARDE IN PRINT 1: FUTURISM; 2: LISSITZKY; 3: DADA; 4: TYPOGRAPHY [Master Designers in Print 1] ; and 5: TYPOGRAPHY [Master Designers in Print 2]. NYC: AGP Mathews/Ex Libris, 1981. First editions. A very good or better complete set of five portfolios: each portfolio contains 10 facsimile plates, plus a folded (6-page) sheet of explanatory text with small illustrations keyed to the plates. Former owners circular emboss on text sheets and black portfolio covers lightly soiled and worn. All plates are in fine condition.
Set of five 12.25 x 13 portfolios of heavy black paper with pasted title label and diagonal cut pocket inside to hold facsimile sheets. Each portfolio contains 10 facsimile plates, plus a folded (6-page) sheet of explanatory text with small illustrations keyed to the plates.
As Cohen notes, this portfolio series acknowledges the debt paid the pioneers of modern typography for their bold inventivenss and the subtle mastery of the new visual vocabulary where the line between words and forms, type and painting, was diminished and the goal of direct communcation elevated as never before.
The prints are intended to be facsimiles are are printed by offset lithography to reproduce the size and colors of the orignals. The colors are printed in flat areas, giving the images a freshness and immediacy that four-color printing from color photographs could never provide. A highly recommended and sought-after artifact from Cohen and Elaine Lustig Cohen's legendary bookstore Ex-Libris.
PORTFOLIO NO. 1: FUTURISM
- F. T. Marinetti & Giacomo Balla: Letterhead for Movimento Futurista
- Giacomo Balla: Futurust Manifesto
- F. T. Marinetti: Free Word Composition (parole in lberta)
- F. T. Marinetti: Free Word Composition (sensibilite numerique)
- 3 Futurist Postcards: Moviemento Futurista, Francesco Cangiullo (presumed) and Futurist Exhibition by Fortunato Depero
- Fortunato Depero: A page from his book Depero Futurista
- Tato (Guglielmo Sansoni): Photograph
- F. De Fillippis: Cover to issue of periodical Stile Futurista
- Enrico Bona: Advertisement in Futurist issue of Campo Grafico
- Mino Somenzi: Back page of weekly newspaper Futurismo
PORTFOLIO NO. 2: LISSITZKY
- El Lissitzky: Cover of Veshch-Gegenstand-Objet
- El Lissitzky: Page from Pro Dva Kvadrata (Of Two Squares)
- El Lissitzky: Announcement for 1923 Berlin Exhibition
- El Lissitzky: 2 photo-collage illustrations from Shest Provesti o Legkikh Kontsakh (Six Stories with Easy Endings)
- El Lissitzky: Wendingen cover
- El Lissitzky: twopages from DLia Golosa (Forthe Voice)
- El Lissitzky: Cover for Merz 8/9
- El Lissitzky: Cover for Kunstismus (aka Kunstismen)
- El Lissitzky: Cover for Arkhitektura Vkhutemas
- El Lissitzky: Cover for Russland (Neues Bauen in der Welt, Vol. 1)
This is the only one of the five protfolios to showcase a single artist. Cohen points out that Lissitzky was the first to realize the importance of photography in revolutionizing the printed page. Photography released the typographer from the mechanical limitations of the hand press, making it possible to integrate words and images as never before. To Lissitzky, the new methods implied an approach to communication that transcended the traditional printed page.
PORTFOLIO NO. 3: DADA
- Hans Arp: Woodcut cover for Cabaret Voltaire
- Francis Picabia: Cover photograph for 391, Number 6
- Marcel Janco: DaDa exhibition poster
- John Heartfield: Die Neue Jugend advertisement
- Raoul Hausmann: Cover for Club DaDa
- Francis Picabia: Title page for DaDa 4/5
- Max Ernst: DaDa Siegt poster
- Kurt Schwitters: Cover for Die Kathedrale
- Theo Van Doesburg: Kleine Dada Soiree poster
- Marcel Duchamp: Catalog Poster for Dada 1916-1923
PORTFOLIO NO. 4: TYPOGRAPHY [Master Designers in Print 1]
- F. T. Marinetti: Parole in Liberta -- Free Word Composition
- Herbert Bayer: Binding design for Staatliches Bauhaus 1919-1923
- Alexander Rodchenko: NEP poster
- Piet Zwart: Poster for Verloop Woning Bureau
- Kurt Schwitters: Middle Pages of the special number of Merz
- Henryk Berlewi: Interior pages from an advertising pamphlet
- Max Burchartz: Jacket Design for Die Gute Reklame
- Laszlo Moholy Nagy: Book jacket design for Von Material zu Architektur
- Johannes Molzahn: Letter head for Fagus-Werk
- Ladislav Sutnar: Jacket Design for Nejmensi Dum (Minimum housing)
PORTFOLIO NO. 5: TYPOGRAPHY [Master Designers in Print 2]
- Guillarme Apollinaire: Calligram "Pablo Picasso"
- Joost Schmidt: Poster for Staatliches Bauhaus
- Jan Tschichold: Cover for special typographic insert Elementare Typographie
- Lajos Kassak: Cover for MA
- El Lissitzky: Cover for periodical ABC
- Karel Teige: Title page for Lodi Jez Dovazi Caj a Kavu
- John Heartfield: Photomontage for cover of Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles
- A. M. Cassandre: Typographic composition for Deberny & Peignot
- Henryk Stazewski: Cover for Polish Constructivist journal Praesens
- Solomon Teilingater: Cover design for Slovo Predstaeliaetsia Kirsanovu
Ex Libris Rare Books was founded in 1973 by Elaine Lustig-Cohen and her husband Arthur A. Cohen (1928-1986). She was a graphic designer of no small renown, and he was a theologian, novelist, art and literary critic, who wrote extensively on Modern Art. The couple dealt in important and rare printed material and graphic documentation of International 20th-Century art. Much of their early inventory is now in Museums and international private collections.