Alexander Rodchenko: Painting, Drawing, Collage, Design, Photography

Book by Peter Galassi, Magdalena Dabrowski, Leah Dickerman

Best known of the Russian avant-garde artists of the interwar period, Rodchenko has gained ever more attention over the last two decades. The final canonization came in the form of this year's major Museum of Modern Art retrospective. Organized by Dabrowski, senior curator in the department of drawings, this is the first American exhibit to survey his entire career and look at his work in painting, drawing, design, and collage as well as photography. This catalog reproduces all the show's selections, which are valuable for their breadth and high quality more than depth in most areas. Of the five main essays, Leah Dickerman (art history, Stanford Univ.) contributes an especially fine analysis of the importance of political propoganda to the artist. Oddly, as with the show, one comes away wodering if Dabrowski's arguments for Rodchenko's importance aren't a bit too strenuously argued. Nonetheless, this is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and up-to-date look at an important artist?it works well with Alexander Lavrentiev's more focused Rodchenko: Photography, 1924-1954 (LJ 11/1/96)?and as such it belongs in serious art collections in larger public and academic libraries.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
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