Gustav Klutsis: Soviet Propaganda Photomontages
May 10, 1997 - June 28, 1997
Ubu Gallery presented the work of Gustav Klutsis, which included his photomontages, posters and books. Recognized as the father of Russian photomontage, creator of the Radio Orator, and master of dynamic typography, poster and display design, Klutsis remains one of the most creative and significant of all Soviet Constructivist artists. Central to Klutsis’s aesthetic was his deep commitment to Soviet Communism. His most important and enormously powerful single body of work is the series of posters for the First Five Year Plan from 1929 to 1933 incorporating heroic images of coal miners, industrial workers, party leaders, giant machines, and Soviet factories. The exhibition highlighted not only Klutsis’s finished works, but also examples of his working photomontages. Focusing largely on the posters and their preparation, but also including other graphic design for books, book jackets, magazines, and pamphlets, the exhibition showcased the best of Klutsis’s powerful, groundbreaking propaganda imagery.
ARTIST
Gustav Klutsis
RESOURCES
Exhibition checklist
PRESS
The Village Voice / Art: “Cut-Ups” / June 17, 1997 / Leslie Camhi
The Art Newspaper / Dealer’s Gazette / June 1997 / Jonathan Napack
OCS News / May 23, 1997 / 1 reproduction
SELECTED WORKS FROM THE EXHIBITION
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