Kusikov, Aleksandr. Ptitsa bezymiannaia. Izbrannye stikhi 1917-1921-Der Ungenannte Vogel Gedichte [“The Nameless Bird.” Selected Verse 1917-1921]

(LISSITZKY, ELIEZER)

Skify

Berlin

1922

Cover design by LISSITZKY

Busch-Reisinger Museum Catalogue, El Lissitzky (1987) no. 1922/11 and pl. 90; Museum of Modern Art Catalogue, The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934 (2002) no. 406, p. 197 (illustration)

The prime objectives of Constructivist graphic design were; “an emphasis on economical and mechanical production techniques, a standardised artistic language, ideologically driven social and political imperatives and an appeal to a mass audience.” Figurative incident, individial expression, symbolism and academic formal traditions were banned from this new artistic cannon. Thus, a Constructivist graphic style emerged in which crisply drawn letters, bright and contrasting colors and a dynamic yet balanced layout were the chosen means for achieving maximum clarity, serving mass- production, reflecting content and appealing to a proletarian audience. Lissitzky’s contribution to the Constructivist aesthetic in graphic design is substantial. His designs illustrate his imaginative genius within the rigorous strictures of the Constructivist system. See, Constractivist Graphic Design 1918-31 in The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934 (2002), p. 180. In his design for the cover of Kusikov’s poems, Lissitzky schmetically renders an image from the title poem in which the poet looks back over his past: “Its as if a nameless grey bird/Had flown out of the mist/And fallen near/Me”