Alexandra Ekster, kak zhivopisets i khudozhnik stseny. [Alexandra Exter as an Artist and a Theatre Designer.]

The first monograph on the avant-garde artist and theatre designer. Tugendkhold's work on Alexandra Exter which he wrote in the Soviet Union was translated in to German, French and English. The original Russian edition, however, is scarce.

Alexandra Exter played a pivotal role in bringing Western avant-garde movements to Ukraine. After studying at the Kyiv Art School, Exter moved to Paris where she befriended Robert Delaunay and Fernand Leger. Here, she began experimenting with Cubo-Futurism, which combined the abstract colours and forms from Cubism with the dynamic energy of Futurism.

Exter's work often blended modernism with Ukrainian folk elements and in 1915 set up craft co-ops in the villages of Skoptsi and Verbivka. She is perhaps most well-known for her her innovative work in theatre, where she translated Cubo-Futurist shapes, colours, and movement into vibrant costume and set designs. In 1918, she opened a private studio in Kyiv and went on to train the next generation of modern artists such as Anatol Petrytsky.

First edition, 8vo (22 x 16 cm); with 43 illustrations, four of which are mounted (3 of these in colour), text in Russian; original grey wrappers printed in red & black, publisher's stamp to lower cover, spine sunned, very small stain to upper cover, a very good copy.