Russian Book Collection
The Russian Book Collection represents a critical body of documentation chronicling the Russian avant-garde movement, active between 1912 and 1918. This collective output centered on the production of radical literary and artistic manifestos, reflecting the early stages of Russian Futurism.
The materials represented in major institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, span illustrated books, printed matter, and unique historical ephemera. The collection holds four illustrated books, two prints, and one ephemeral item, focusing heavily on publications that defined the era's rebellious spirit. Central to this group of works is the foundational Futurist text, the illustrated book Poshchechina obshchestvennomu vkusu. V zashchitu svobodnogo iskusstva. Stikhi, proza, stat'i (A Slap in the Face of Public Taste: In Defense of Free Art. Verse, Prose, Essays).
Key documentation relates directly to the pivotal 0.10 exhibition of 1915-1916, which ushered in the era of non-objective art. This material includes the associated catalog 0.10. The Last Futurist Exhibition of Paintings, as well as contemporary media coverage found in the Vechernee vremja newspaper and the Ogonek periodical. Further literary output is represented by Truba marsiian (The Martians' Trumpet). This significant archive of early Russian Book Collection prints and publications provides essential insight into the transition toward modernism. Today, much of the research material documenting this period is entering the public domain, allowing for detailed study and the production of museum-quality reproductions.
