LAVRENTIEV (Aleksandr). - Lot 185

LAVRENTIEV (Aleksandr). Rodchenko and the October Group. Introduction by Philippe Sers. Paris, Hazan, 1998. Large quarto, illustrated publisher’s hardcover. A major monograph devoted to Alexander Rodchenko (1891–1956), a leading figure of the Russian avant-garde and Constructivism, exploring his work within the October Group, a collective of photographers, filmmakers, and graphic designers founded in the late 1920s. The photographer’s grandson, Aleksandr Lavrentiev, draws on family archives and numerous previously unpublished documents to trace Rodchenko’s evolution, from his pictorial experiments to the invention of a radical photographic language based on high-angle and low-angle shots, diagonal compositions, and dynamic framing that revolutionized modern photography. The book reproduces a vast collection of iconic photographs — *The Staircase*, *Pedestrians*, portraits, industrial views, architecture, sports, and Soviet youth — as well as posters, magazine covers, photomontages, archival documents, and theoretical texts illustrating the research of the October Group and the aesthetic debates of the era. Philippe Sers’ introduction situates this artistic endeavor within the intellectual and political context of the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s and highlights Rodchenko’s decisive influence on the history of contemporary photography. Condition: very good copy. Hardcover shows slight signs of wear, interior is in pristine condition.