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an image of a painting of a knife and fork on a piece of paper
Jeschke Jádi Auctions Berlin

Estimate €500 - €700
Sale commission
Description
Posters After El Lissitzky Prolet / Kult / Narodu! (Prolet / Kult / To the People!). Circa 1950s–60s. Oil on canvas. 62 x 55 cm. Unsigned copy. - A later copy based on El Lissitzky’s original designs. - The pioneering Russian avant-garde artist El Lissitzky, with his radically modern visual language, shaped the agitation and propaganda posters of the early Soviet Union from the 1920s onwards. Under the leadership of the Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Lenin, posters were distributed with the aim of spreading the ideas of this staunchly socialist political party amongst the general population. Combining the dual strategy of agitation and propaganda, they reflect the movement’s efforts to establish the proletariat as a mass culture. For example, three so-called ‘mini-agitation posters’ by Lissitzky from 1928 have survived, bearing the Soviet exclamations and slogans that characterised the 1920s. All are consistently dedicated to and addressed to the general public. Lissitzky created the posters in the radically modern and well-known Proun style, which he himself invented. Prouns, the ‘Projects for the Consolidation of the New’, reveal the artist’s new worldview and his comprehensive visions of visual art and architecture. They represent a transitional period from which the new art eventually emerged. Prouns take their cue from the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich, whose geometric vocabulary of forms within dynamic compositions serves as a model. Lissitzky’s agitation posters present themselves as a construction of geometric planes and stereometric solids, without evoking any illusion of spatiality. Rather, they create a tension between the precision and clarity of the individual elements and their spatial position within the overall composition. Oil on canvas. – Unsigned, later copy based on the original drafts by El Lissitzky. – The pioneering Russian avant-garde artist El Lissitzky, with his radically modern visual language, left his mark on the agitation and propaganda posters of the early Soviet Union from the 1920s onwards. Under the leadership of the Bolshevik state, headed by Vladimir Lenin, posters were distributed with the aim of spreading the ideas of this staunchly socialist political party amongst the general population. Combining the dual strategy of agitation and propaganda, they reflect their efforts to establish the proletariat as mass culture. For example, three so-called ‘mini-agitation posters’ by Lissitzky from 1928 have survived, bearing the Soviet exclamations and slogans that characterised the 1920s. All are consistently dedicated to and addressed to the general public. Lissitzky created the posters in his radically modern, self-invented and well-known Proun style. The Prouns, the ‘Projects for the Consolidation of the New’, reveal the artist’s new worldview and his comprehensive visions of the visual arts and architecture. They represent a transitional period from which new art emerges. The Prouns draw inspiration from Kazimir Malevich’s Suprematism, whose geometric vocabulary of forms within dynamic compositions serves as a model. Lissitzky’s propaganda posters present themselves as a construction of geometric planes and stereometric solids without evoking any illusion of spatiality. Rather, they create a tension between the precision and clarity of the individual elements and their spatial position within the overall composition.
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About the sale Valuable books, prints, historical photographs
Auction location
Auction time 10/24/2026 at 10:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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