Gorin, Aleksandr, author, and Georgii Stenberg, design.

[WHO IS WHO IN CONSTRUCTIVIST THEATRE AND PHOTOMONTAGE] Kto, chto, kogda v Moskovskom Kamernom Teatre [Who, what, where at the Moscow Kamerny Theatre].

Moscow: Mospoligraf, 1925. Large quarto (34.5 × 26 cm). Original chromolithograph wrappers; [38] pp. Illustrations throughout, from photographs, drawings, reproductions of stage sets and costume designs. Professional restoration to spine and wrapper edges; else about very good. Item #54347

A striking Constructivist album published for the tenth anniversary of the avant-garde Kamerny Theatre [Chamber Theatre] in Moscow, founded in 1914 by the theatre innovator Aleksandr Tairov (1885–1950), with cover design and photomontage illustrations by Georgii Stenberg (1900–1933). A one-time student of Meyerkhold, Tairov worked with many major avant-garde artists of his time. The album features photographs, drawings, and sketches for the Futurist and Constructivist set and costume designs by artists such as the painter Georgii Yakulov (Princess Brambilla, 1920), Aleksandra Exter (Romeo and Juliet, 1921; Salome, 1922), Aleksandr Vesnin (Phèdre, 1922; The Man Who was Thursday, 1924), as well as sketches for collapsible and movable set designs by the Constructivist sculptor Konstantin Medunetsky and the duo of Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg. Known as the Stenberg brothers, the duo was active in sculpture, stage design, architecture, large-scale decorations, film posters, and other media. After studying at the Stroganov School in Moscow, they co-founded the OBMOKhU (Society of Young Artists) and eventually participated in an exhibition of "Constructivists" in 1922, staged together with Konstantin Medunetsky. Medunetsky also designed the interior of the theatre, which is featured in the album. All three artists were members of INKhUK, the Institute of Artistic Culture, along with such noted members of the Soviet avant-garde as Alexander Rodchenko and Liubov' Popova. The Stenberg brothers designed numerous publications together and separately, such as issues of LEF and Stroitel’stvo Moskvy. Their collaboration with the legendary Kamerny Theatre in 1922–1930 was especially productive, and they designed one other title on the theatre in 1927. In 1928 the theatre fell under attack for staging Mihkail Bulgakov’s satire “Crimson Island”. It was closed after WWII, following further attacks for “bourgeois formalism”.

Not in MoMA, which holds a later title on the Kamerny Theatre designed by the Stenberg brothers in 1927 (no. 718).

As of August 2026, KVK, OCLC show seven copies in North America.

Price: €1,600.00

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