Telingater, S[olomon] and E[l'brus] Gutnov, N. Spirov.

[CONSTRUCTIVIST SELF-CRITIQUE – OCTOBER GROUP TYPOGRAPHY] Oktiabr'. Bor'ba za proletarskiie klassovye pozitsii na fronte prostranstvennykh iskusstv [October. A battle for proletarian class positions at the front of spatial arts].

Moscow: IZOGIZ, 1931. Quarto (26.4 × 18.8 cm). Original printed wrappers; 27, [1] pp. With striking typographic arrangement throughout, printed in red and black. Light soil to wrappers, rust to staples. Still about very good. Item #55669

A late manifesto from a critical period for the October Group, with extensive self-critique of Constructivism and charismatic typographic design elements by the members of the group, with Solomon Telingater heading the design team. Concerned with defining "proletarian art", October was founded in 1928 by a group of Constructivist and Productivist-leaning architects, artists, filmmakers, photographers, and sculptors including the Vesnin brothers, Aleksandr Deineka, Gustav Klutsis, Valentina Kulagina, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and Aleksei Gan, among others. The manifesto presents fifteen points on “new proletarian art”, including topics such as national art, industrial and household design, professional and amateur art, as well as commentary on other art groupings such as OCA (Union of Contemporary Architects), which was the main organisation of Constructivist architects, and VOPRA (Union of Proletarian Architects), a group of architects that rejected Constructivism in favour of “class conscious architecture”. The volume closes with an especially detailed polemic against the positions of AKhR (Association of Artists of the Revolution) which opposed Constructivism and other avant-garde movements in favor of realism. AKhR would go on to become the cornerstone for the Union of Soviet Artists which was founded in 1932, leading to the liquidation of all independent art groupings including the October Group, and championing Socialist Realism.

The volume is an especially fine example of typographic experimentation by Solomon Telingater (1903–1969), a graphic artist, typographer, illustrator, and book designer. Born in Tiflis (Georgia), Telingater studied at VKhUTEMAS in 1920–1921, often dubbed the Bauhaus of the Soviet Union for its experimental edge. Later Telingater famously collaborated on cover designs with El Lissitzky and Gustav Klutsis, did layout design for the Constructivist architecture periodical "CA" (Contemporary Architecture), as well as architectural periodicals "SSSR na stroike" (USSR in Construction) and "Stroitel’stvo Moskvy" (Construction of Moscow).

No. 983 in Rowell/Wye, The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910–1934. The catalog also features over a dozen other Constructivist designs by Telingater. One of 5000 copies printed.

As of March 2026, KVK, OCLC show five copies in North America.

Price: €2,500.00

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