Society of Young Artists (OBMOKhU)

Denisovski, Nikolaĭ Fedorovich, (author, illustrator)

Денисовский, Николай Федорович, (author, illustrator).

Zoloto (Gold) Золото (Gold)

[Moskva] : OGIZ Molodai︠a︡ gvardii︠a︡, 1931. [Москва] :

ОГИЗ Молодая гвардия, 1931.

28 pages with many illustrations, mostly in color.

22 cm x 18,5 cm. Original wrappers.

EUR 1200

Note: There are numerous ways of spelling the author’s name; different spellings have been used here deliberately to ensure the author can be found in search results. Cyrillic: Николай Фёдорович Денисовский. English transcriptions: Nikolai Fedorovich Denisovskii, Nikolai Denisovsky, Nikolai Fedorovich Denisovski.

The work was created during the era of the first Soviet five-year plans. True to the spirit of the times, a central theme of the book is: “We need gold to accelerate the construction of socialism, to catch up with and overtake [the capitalist states]…”. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Nikolai Denisowski (1901-1981) undertook official trips on behalf of the state—including a trip in 1930 to the gold mines in the Far East. His sketches from that trip (such as the one of the electric dredge at the “Krasny Stan” mining site) served as the direct basis for the expressive industrial illustrations in this 28-page book.

He also wrote the accompanying texts himself. From 1911 to 1917, Nikolai Fedorovich Denisovskii studied at the Stroganov School for Technical Drawing in Moscow. Following the Revolution, he studied for two years at the newly formed State Free Art Studios (GSKhM) with theater designer Georgii Iakulov. He cofounded one of the first Constructivist groups, the Society of Young Artists (OBMOKhU), and participated in its exhibitions in Moscow from 1919 to 1922. During the Civil War period, he cut stencils for the ROSTA studio in Moscow. In the 1920s, his drawings appeared frequently in satirical magazines. He worked as an illustrator for several publishing houses, including Gosizdat and the All-Russian Cooperative-Partnership of Artists (Vsekokhudozhnik). He was one of the founders of the TASS editorial office in Moscow and served as its director from 1941 to 1946, during which time he designed approximately forty posters for the studio. In 1962 he was awarded the title People’s Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

The only record of this book being sold commercially that I could find is: https://www.litfund.ru/auction/292/266/

OCLC lists eight copies in North America and two in Europe

Condition: A fine copy; only the black cover has some minor retouching.