Avangardstroi: arkhitekturnyi ritm revoliutsii 1917 goda (Avangardstroi: the architectural rhythm of the 1917 revolution)
Moscow: Muzei arkhitektury im. A.V. Shchuseva, 2018. This catalogue of an exhibition at the Shchusev Museum of Architecture in Moscow publishes design drawings by Aleksei Shchusev, a Russian architect whose career overlapped several styles of European and Russian architecture (art nouveau, Russian revival and Stalinist empire) but whose own work is distinguished for its original ability to create a new style by combining historical elements with modern ones. The authors publish, many for the first time, Shchusev’s drawings for a Russian Orthodox church (1914) with lodging for pilgrims in Bari, Italy, which show the process of design and fix in beautiful watercolors Shchusev's amazing ability to infuse medieval architectural forms with new forms akin to modern (moderne) or art nouveau. The drawings demonstrate the intimate tie between the design of a building and the liturgical painting scheme of frescoes and icons, which the architect planned with such artists as Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and Vasilii Shukhaev. The history of the project testifies to the kind of rare collaboration possible in tsarist Russia. Sponsored by the Romanovs and the Imperial Palestinian Orthodox Society, the project involved major figures on different planes: Princess Elizaveta Fedorovna familiar with Shchusev’s work at the Martha and Mary Convent of Charity in Moscow proposed Shchusev for the commission; Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich as head of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society administered the project; and Tsar Nicholas II donated 12,000 rubles and personally reviewed Shchusev's designs. The sequel is poignant: while Shchusev managed to flourish after the 1917 revolution (given the commission, for example, of Lenin’s mausoleum), the members of the imperial family carrying out in Italy a charitable cause all lost their lives only four years later at the hand of the Bolshevik regime. 359 p., 29 cm, approx. 800 color and b/w illus.,Rus. with summary in ENGLISH. Item #2752
ISBN: 9785995009047
Chapter titles: Development of the Architectural Avant-Garde: Associations, Competitions, Plans, New Methods of Teaching; Ideological Struggle in the Architectural Community, 1932–37; New Ideas of City-Planning and I. I. Leonidov's "City of the Sun" ; Creating an Architectural Image of Soviet Authority; New Types of Construction: Workers' Clubs, Theaters for Mass Productions; Physical Culture: Architecture for Sport and Leisure: Socially-minded Architecture of Residential Quarters; Industrial Buildings of the First 5-Year Plan.
Price: $144.00