Dediukhin, V[ladimir] A[ndreevich], editor.

[CONSTRUCTIVISM – STALINIST ARCHITECTURE] Raboty arkhitekturno-proektirovochnykh masterskikh [Works of the Architectural and Design Workshops]. Vols. 1–12 (all published).

Moscow: Mossovet, 1934–1936. Quartos (29 × 22 cm). Ten volumes in original printed card wrappers, numbered 1–12 (with vols. 8 and 9 never printed and thus complete); ca. 80 pp per volume, with numerous illustrations (some in color) including photographs, plans, maps, and technical drawings. Vols. 4–12 in original embossed cloth portfolio, with front flap detached. Missing portfolio for vols. 1–3, as well as the booklet with introductory article and a booklet containing the index. Title pages, table of contents, titles, and annotations to illustrations in Russian and French. Light soil to wrappers, rust to staples. The individual volumes about very good. Item #54807

A richly illustrated ten-volume set (all published) showcasing the work of the Architectural and Design Workshops of Mossovet, formed in 1933 as part of the plan for the reconstruction of Moscow. Each volume is focused on the work of one of the ten workshops headed by a prominent architect: I. V. Zholtovskii (N1), A. V. Shchusev (N2), I. A. Fomin (N3), I. A. Golosov (N4), D. F. Fridman (N5), N. Ia. Kolli (N6), K. S. Mel'nikov (N7), V. D. Kokorin (N10), M. V. Kriukov (N11), and N. G. Borov (N12). Each volume presents a variety of projects for administrative and residential buildings, hospitals, summer camps, palaces of culture, designs of Moscow metro stations, and interiors of the building which housed the newspaper Pravda, with most of the projects created or completed in 1934. Published at a crucial moment when the Soviet establishment was moving away from Constructivism and toward the Neo-classical Stalinist architecture, the volumes contain projects designed both in the Constructivist and Neo-classical styles. Many of the projects presented in the volumes were never completed, in part because of this transition, and exist only on the pages of these volumes.

The introductory article by the editor, Vladimir Dediukhin (1895–1938) the Acting Executive Secretary of the Union of Soviet Architects at the time of publication, takes a middle position on Constructivism, both praising if for “properly understanding the need for the development of new forms, new materials, new construction methods and new technologies” while critiquing it for “ignoring the tasks of artistic-compositional order in architecture”. Of special interest is the redesign of the Meyerkhold Theater shown in N2, originally designed by two Constructivist architects Mikhail Barkhin and Sergei Vakhtangov, presented here as re-designed by Aleksei Shchusev, who added ornament to the original Constructivist structure. Despite the re-designs, the building was never completed. Another significant avant-garde project that was never built is the design of the National Commissariat of Heavy Industry by Konstantin Mel'nikov shown in N7 of the set. Designed as a monumental structure placed right in Moscow’s Red Square, the building would have fundamentally changed the face of the city. Among the completed projects in the volumes are the various stations of the Moscow Metro, designs for Gorky Park, as well as numerous buildings along the embankment of the Moscow River. Workshops N8 and N9 were apparently closed prior to the publication of the set, and workshop N12 would be closed by the end of 1935.

Rare in the trade, especially as a complete set. As of February 2025, KVK, OCLC locate eight holdings in North American institutions.

Price: €7,500.00

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