Research Catalog

Engineer, agitator, constructor : the artist reinvented, 1918-1939 : the Merrill C. Berman Collection

Title
Engineer, agitator, constructor : the artist reinvented, 1918-1939 : the Merrill C. Berman Collection / organized by Jodi Hauptman and Adrian Sudhalter.
Publication
  • New York : The Museum of Modern Art, [2020]
  • New York, NY : Artbook/D.A.P.
  • ©2020

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TextUse in library JQG 21-364Schwarzman Building M1 - Art & Architecture Room 300

Details

Additional Authors
  • Hauptman, Jodi
  • Sudhalter, Adrian
  • Anger, Jenny, 1965-
  • Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), publisher, host institution.
Description
288 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), map; 32 cm
Summary
"How the modernist avant-gardes from Dada to constructivism reconceived their roles, working as propagandists, advertisers, publishers, graphic designers, curators and more, to create new visual languages for a radically changed world. "We regarded ourselves as engineers, we maintained that we were building things...we put our works together like fitters." So declared the artist Hannah Höch, describing a radically new approach to artmaking in the 1920s and '30s. Such wholesale reinvention of the role of the artist and the functions of art took place in lockstep with that era's shifts in industry, technology, and labor, and amid the profound impact of momentous events: World War I, the Russian Revolution, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the rise of fascism. Highlighting figures such as Aleksandr Rodchenko, Lyubov Popova, John Heartfield, Marianne Brandt, and Fré Cohen, Engineer, Agitator, Constructor : The Artist Reinvented demonstrates the ways in which artists reimagined their roles to create a dynamic art for a new world. These "engineers," "agitators," "constructors," "photomonteurs," "workers" - all designations adopted by the artists themselves - turned away from traditional forms of painting and sculpture and invented new visual languages. Central among them was photomontage, in which photographs and images from newspapers and magazines were cut, remixed, and pasted together. Working as propagandists, advertisers, publishers, editors, theater designers, and curators, these artists engaged with expanded audiences in novel ways, establishing distinctive infrastructures for presenting and distributing their work. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition, Engineer, Agitator, Constructor celebrates the recent transformative addition to MoMA's holdings from the Merrill C. Berman Collection, one of the great private collections of early-twentieth-century political art and design. Essays by eminent scholars, conservators, artists, and poets consider the era's revolutionary art forms, such as photomontage and the New Typography; the essential role of women in the avant-garde; and the networks linking these artists across geographic and ideological borders. The exhibition presents the social engagement, fearless experimentation, and utopian aspirations that defined the early 20th century, and how these strategies still reverberate today"--Taken from publisher description.
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Exhibition catalogs.
  • History.
Note
  • Statement of responsibility from colophon.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Exhibitions (note)
  • "Published in conjunction with the exhibition 'Engineer, agitator, constructor : The artist reinvented, 1918-1939' at the Museum of Modern Art New York, May 10 - September 12, 2020"--Colophon.
Contents
Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Preface. The Merrill C. Berman Collection : A shadow museum brought to light / Christophe Cherix -- Introduction. Engineer, Agitator, Constructor : The Artist Reinvented / Jodi Hauptman -- Representing the Constructor / Adrian Sudhalter -- Plates -- Attributed to Wladyslaw Strzemiński : Unovis posters, 1920-21 / Masha Chlenova -- Gustav Klutsis : "Electrification of the Entire Country", c. 1920 / Maria Gough -- Liubov Popova : "Production Clothing for Actor No. 7", 1922 / Juliet Koss -- Alexandra Exter : Designs for a mural in the Mechanical Engineering Pavilion at the All-Russian Exhibition of Agriculture and Home Industries, 1923 / Martino Stierli -- Aleksandr Rodchenko and Vladimir Mayakovsky : Maquette for poster, Chaeupravlenie Cocoa, c. 1924 / Katie Farris and Ilya Kaminsky -- Elena Semenova : Three Workers' Club drawings, 1926 and 1930 / Maria Gough -- Aleksei Gan : Poster for "First Exhibition of Contemporary Architecture", 1927 / Kristin Romberg -- Lydia Naumova : History of the International Trade Union Movement poster series, c. 1928 / Devin Fore -- Valentina Kulagina : Maquette for "We Are Building", 1929 / Laura Neufeld -- Varvara Stepanova : "Bolster Our Defense With Whatever You Can!", c. 1930 / Olivia Crough -- Gustav Klutsis : "The Reality of Our Program Is Real People - That Is You And Me", c. 1931 / Lee Ann Daffner -- Maria Bri-Bein : "Woman Worker, Fight For a Clean Canteen, For Healthy Food", 1931 / Christina Kiaer -- Aleksandr Deineka : "We Will Turn Moscow Into a Model Socialist City of the Proletarian State", 1931 / Jean-Louis Cohen -- Solomon Telingater : Promotional design for Red Army Theater, c. 1934 / William Kentridge -- Henryk Berlewi : "Mechano-Facture", 1924 / Jenny Anger -- Teresa Żarnower and Mieczysław Szczuka - "Blok", no. 6-7, 1924 / Jennifer Tobias -- Farkas Molnár : Cover design for Ma Magazine, 1924 / Juliet Kinchin -- Jindřich Štyrský - "White Star Line", 1923 / Barbora Bartunkova -- Ladislav Sutnar : Albums of graphic design, c. 1925-39 / Iva Knobloch -- Johannes Baader : Untitled ("Advertisement for Myself"), 1920 / Adrian Sudhalter -- Raoul Hausmann : "Synthetic Cinema of Painting", c. 1918-19 / Jodi Hauptman -- Hannah Höch : Untitled (Dada), c. 1922 / Benjamin H. D. Buchloh -- Herbert Bayer : Exhibition stand for electrical company, 1924 / Noam M. Elcott -- Marianne Brandt : "Sports - Sport", c. 1927 / Elizabeth Otto -- Heinz Loew : "Exhibition Stand With Mandatory Viewing Route", 1929 / Barry Bergdoll -- Kurt Schwitters : Poster for "Opel Day : Great Car and Flower Parade", 1927 / Megan R. Luke -- Max Burchartz : Untitled (Red Square), c. 1928 / Robert Wiesenberger -- John Heartfield : "The Hand Has Five Fingers", 1928 / Andrés Mario Zervigón -- Bart Van Der Leck : Delft Salad Oil poster commission, 1919 / Erika Mosier -- Piet Zwart : Three advertisements, 1922 and 1923 / Ellen Lupton -- Fré Cohen : Book covers and printed ephemera, 1920s - 1930s / Juliet Kinchin -- Bruno Munari : Maquette for advertisement "Forces of the Empire", 1937 / Jeffrey Schnapp -- Infiltrating the Art Museum : MOMA and modern graphic design / Juliet Kinchin -- Catalogue - The Merrill C. Berman Collection at MOMA / compiled by Jane Cavalier and Sewon Kang -- Index -- Contributors -- Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art.
Call Number
JQG 21-364
ISBN
  • 9781633451087
  • 1633451089
LCCN
2020931929
OCLC
1175920471
Title
Engineer, agitator, constructor : the artist reinvented, 1918-1939 : the Merrill C. Berman Collection / organized by Jodi Hauptman and Adrian Sudhalter.
Publisher
New York : The Museum of Modern Art, [2020]
Distributor
New York, NY : Artbook/D.A.P.
Copyright Date
©2020
Type of Content
text
still image
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Exhibitions
"Published in conjunction with the exhibition 'Engineer, agitator, constructor : The artist reinvented, 1918-1939' at the Museum of Modern Art New York, May 10 - September 12, 2020"--Colophon.
Chronological Term
1900-1999
Added Author
Hauptman, Jodi, editor, curator, organizer.
Sudhalter, Adrian, editor, curator, organizer.
Anger, Jenny, 1965- organizer, contributor.
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), publisher, host institution.
Research Call Number
JQG 21-364
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