Auction 69 - Part II - Avant-Garde Art from the Collection of Uzi Agassi
1. Tsiltsele Shema, literary anthology [edited by Yosef Matov]. Kharkiv, 1923. Cover illustration: Aris (signed Y.A.).
A literary anthology featuring works by young Hebrew writers and poets, including Yosef Matov, Gershon Hanovitch, Avraham Kariv, Gershon Fried and others. The anthology was printed in a hundred copies only and constitutes a rare example of a Hebrew publication in Soviet Russia.
After the October Revolution, the Russian government implemented a policy of suppressing the Hebrew language, which was proclaimed a "reactionary [anti-revolutionary] language". Hebrew language instruction was banned and limitations were placed on Hebrew publishing. During the early 1920s, most of the senior Hebrew writers left Russia. The void they left behind was partly filled by a group of young Jewish writers and poets called the "Leningrad Group" or the "Genesis Group". The members of the group, most of them avant-garde poets, supported the ideology of the October Revolution, which they wanted to express in Hebrew, and fought for the Hebrew language's right to exist in Russia. During the 1920s, despite difficulties and persecutions by the government, they succeeded in publishing four Hebrew literary anthologies; the first of them being "Tsiltsele Shema" (Resounding Cymbals). The group continued its activity in Leningrad until 1927, when several of its members were arrested and exiled. The editor of "Tsiltsele Shema", Yosef Matov (Sa'aroni), was sentenced to exile to Siberia; however, in 1928, his punishment was changed to exile to Palestine. In Palestine he worked as a writer and translator of Russian literature.
32 pp, approx. 17.5X12.5 cm. Good condition. Dampstains and significant foxing. Uneven edges. Blemishes and open tears to cover, professionally restored. Placed in a fine cardboard case.
Not in OCLC.
2. Tsiltsele Shema, facsimile edition. Tel Aviv: Zohar Booksellers, 1968.
Facsimile edition of the "Tsiltsele Shema" anthology. Copy no. 46 from an edition of 100 copies.
[2], 32 pp, [1] leaf. Approx. 15X11.5 cm. Red, gilt-lettered binding. Very good condition.
Literature: "The Jews of Leningrad 1917-1939" (Hebrew), by Michael Beiser (The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 2005), pp. 320-328.
1. Far der Bineh (Dertseilungen, Piesen, Lider) [For the Stage (Stories, Plays and Poems)], literary anthology edited by Y. [Yechezkel] Dobrushin, B. [Buzy] Olievsky and E. [Eliyahu] Gordon. Moscow: Tsentraler felker-farlag fun F.S.S.R, 1929.
Short stories, humoresques, plays, poems, sheet music and more by David Bergelson, Isaac Babel, Leib Kvitko, David Hofstein and others.
136 pp, 22.5 cm. Good condition. Minor creases and several tears to edges. Library stamps. Minor stains on the cover. Creases and tears to edges of cover and spine (parts of the spine are missing). Notation on back cover.
2. In Shvern Gang [On a difficult journey], poems by Moyshe Khashtshevatski. Moscow: Tsentralfarlag, 1929. (On the cover: "Tsentralfarlag – Kharkiv").
155, [3] pp, 17.5 cm. The body of the book is in good condition. Library stamps at the beginning and end. The cover is in fair condition, with stains, blemishes and open tears; restored (its margins are wider than those of the book).
3. Kinder-Lider [Children's Poems], by Rachel Boymvol. Moscow-Kharkiv-Minsk: Tsentraler felker-farlag fun F.S.S.R, 1930.
31, [1] pp, 17 cm. Good condition. Several stains. Small tears to edges of several leaves. Stains, blemishes and open tears to cover. The cover is restored.
Hersh (Gregory) Inger (1910-1995), born in Sarny (Ukraine), was educated in a 'cheder' in Uman. In ca. 1926-1929, he studied at Mark Epstein's Jewish Arts and Trades School in Kiev (the name given to the Art Section of the Kultur Lige under communist management). Inger illustrated books and worked with Jewish publishing houses; he is especially remembered for illustrating books by Sholem Aleichem.
The first volume of poetry by Dovid Knut (1900-1955), a Jewish-Russian poet, one of the founders of a Jewish resistance movement that operated in occupied France during World War II. On the title page, a handwritten inscription by Knut, in Russian, to Baruch Agadati (dated: Paris, 21.1.1926).
Duvid Meerovich Fiksman, better known by his literary name, Dovid Knut, was born in the Bessarabian town of Orgeev (today Orhei, Moldova). In his childhood, he studied in a 'cheder' and in the Chisinau Jewish school. His poems were first published in local periodicals when he was only 14. In 1920, he moved with his family to Paris, where he joined circles of Russian poets and published his first volume of poetry. Over the years, he adopted Zionism and in 1937 even visited Palestine, with his partner Ariadna Scriabina. After the outbreak of World War II, Knut was conscripted into the French army and in 1940, after marrying Ariadna, moved with her to Toulouse. The couple were among the founders of the organization "La Main Forte" [The strong hand], which became the "Armée Juive" (Jewish Army), a prominent movement in the French Resistance during World War II, which assisted in the rescue of many Jews. In late 1942, pursued by the Gestapo, Knut fled Toulouse to Switzerland. Ariadna was killed in 1944 by members of the French Militia, two weeks after the city was liberated. In 1949, Knut immigrated to Israel, living in Tel Aviv until his death in 1955.
The painter and dancer Baruch Agadati (1895-1976), of the pioneers of the film and dance industry in Israel and one of the prominent figures in Tel Aviv's cultural life during the 1920s and 1930s.
47, [1] pp, 19 cm. Good condition. Uneven edges. Stains. Tears, stains and blemishes to cover.
Rajzel Żychlińsky's first volume of poetry. Copy no. 12 from an edition of 300 copies. On the title page, an autograph inscription by Żychlińsky, in Yiddish, presumably to the Yiddish poet Joseph Papiernikov (Warsaw, 13.7.1936).
Cover design by the Polish-Jewish painter and printmaker Jankel Adler (1895-1949). At the beginning of the book is a plate with a reproduction of a work by Adler (titled "dreaming woman" [Yiddish] and dated 1925 on the tissue guard).
Rajzel Żychlińsky (1910-2001), a Yiddish poet, born in Poland. Her first poems were published during the late 1920s in the Yiddish newspaper Folkstsaytung in Warsaw. Her first two volumes of poetry, "Lider" and "Der Regen Singt" were published during the 1930s. With the outbreak of World War II, she escaped to the Soviet Union. The members of her family who remained in Poland perished in the Holocaust. In 1951, she immigrated to the USA, settling in New York. After the war, she continued writing in Yiddish, with many of her poems dealing with the destruction of European Jewry. In 1975, she was awarded the Itzik Manger Prize for outstanding contributions to Yiddish literature. Nonetheless, she did not gain fame, and her work is essentially unknown to this day.
[1], 44, [1] pp, 24 cm. Good condition. Stains, mostly on the first leaves. Stains and small tears to edges of cover and tears along the spine. The cover is detached from the book.
1. In Shpan [In Harness], monthly. Issue no. 1. Vilnius: Villner Farlag fun B. Kletzkin, 1926.
A literary pro-communist monthly. Contains literary passages and articles about the Jews of the USSR by David Bergelson, Daniel Charney, Alexander Cheshin and others.
165, [11] pp, 21 cm. Fair condition. Creases and tears to edges (most of them small). Closed and open tears along the spine. The booklet is split into several parts.
2. Di Royte Nadel [The Red Needle]. Journal issued by the union of tailors in Ukraine and Belarus. Issue no. 5 (30). Kharkiv: Tz.K. un Tz.P. for Nadel-Farayn in Ukraine un Weissrossland, 1927.
The issue contains numerous articles about the activity of the union and is accompanied by pictures and illustrations. The illustration on the front cover is signed: "L. Hatzniyev".
23, [1] pp, 26 cm. Good condition. Stains. Most of the pages are unopened.
3. Shtiler, Chaveyrim [Quieter, Friends], sheet music booklet for a musical composition by S. Feintuch. Kiev: Kultur Lige, 1929.
The composer is presumably the pianist and conductor Solomon Feintuch (1899-1985).
7, [1] pp (including the cover), 26 cm. Good condition. Stains, creases and tears to edges. The spreads are detached. Stamp, pen notation and blemishes to cover.
The third booklet is not in NLI.
Five tales about rabbits by Aleksander Afanasyev, Vladimir Dal and Hans Christian Andersen, adapted and translated into Yiddish by writer and translator David Roikhel (1890-1941); illustrated by Mark Epstein.
Mark Epstein (1897-1949), a graphic artist, painter, sculptor and stage designer, born in Babruysk. He was educated in a 'cheder' and later studied at the Kiev School of Art. In 1918 he studied in the studio of Alexandra Ekster. In the same year he participated in an exhibition of Jewish artists in Moscow and was one of the founders of the art section of Kultur Lige. His artistic style was greatly influenced by his friendship with a group of Kiev-based Modernist writers and poets, including Der Nister (Pinchas Kahanowitz), David Bergelson and Yechezkel Dobrushin.
Epstein continued to work in Kiev even after the establishment of the Soviet government and the communization of the Kultur Lige organizations, while his partners in the art section had chosen to leave the city. During the years 1923-1931, he managed the Jewish Arts and Trades School in Kiev (the new name given to the Art Section of Kultur Lige under communist management). At the same time, he worked as a stage and costume designer for theaters in Kiev and Kharkiv.
In 1932, after the Jewish Arts and Trades School was closed, together with the remaining Kultur Lige organizations, he had to leave Kiev and moved to Moscow. In his last years, he did not participate in exhibitions.
30, [1] pp, 20 cm. Good condition. A few stains. Faded stamp on p. 3. Minor blemishes to cover.
1. Al'dos Guts, Mayselekh far Kinder [All the Best, Tales for Children]. Warsaw: Kultur Lige, 1922. Yiddish.
Ten rhymed tales for children, accompanied by small illustrations by Arthur Szyk.
90 pp, [2] leaves, 22 cm. Body in good overall condition. Minor stains. Stained cover, with open tears to edges and spine. Paper strips are mounted to the edges of the cover; the front cover is attached to the title page by three pieces of paper.
2. Forshtelungen [Plays]. Lodz, 5697 [1936/37]. Yiddish.
Twelve one-act plays. The plays, which were written after the rise of Nazism in Germany and at a time of increasing anti-Semitism in Europe, deal with the distress of Jews in a non-Jewish environment; their heroes are figures from literature, Jewish history and folklore: Shylock, Judah Halevi, Baruch Spinoza, Heinrich Heine and others.
On the second page appears a color portrait of Broderzon, made by Arthur Szyk.
132, [2] pp, 19 cm. Good condition. Foxing. Minor blemishes to cover.
Catalog of Kultur Lige publications, including, alongside a list of the publications, illustrations of booklet and book covers and two photographs of the publishing house. At the end of the catalog are short biographies of prominent writers, alongside their portraits and lists of their works which were published by Kultur Lige.
[14], 75, [47] pp (including the back cover) + [3] plates. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Closed and open tears to edges of several leaves. Stained cover, with tears and blemishes. Strip of cloth tape along the spine.
Not in OCLC.
1. Ofn Shvel [On the Threshold]. 1921.
Literary anthology containing poetry, prose and essays, as well as illustrations by Mikhail Yo and four plates with reproductions of works by Mikhail Yo and by V. Hirschberg.
32 pp + [4] plates, 24.5 cm. Stains. Several small tears to edges. Stains and small tears to cover.
2. A Ber Tantzt [A Dancing Bear], by Moishe Livshitz [Moshe Lifshitz]. 1922.
Poems by Moshe Lifshitz. Cover illustration and two illustrations inside the anthology by Mikhail Yo.
51, [1] pp, approx. 19 cm. Good condition. Folds and small tears at the corners of several leaves. Minor worming. Stains throughout the booklet and on the cover. Minor tears to edges of cover.
Meyer Yofe (1895-1960), who worked under the pen name Mikhail Yo, was a graphic artist, painter and theoretician, one of the central figures of Riga's cultural and artistic life. He illustrated books published by the Arbeterheim publishing house, which was the center of Kultur Lige activity in Latvia in the 1920s. Yofe was a member of the "Sambatyon" group founded by the Kultur Lige in Riga, and also worked at the Jewish theater of Riga and the State Jewish theater in Moscow.
Искусство Марка Шагала [The Art of Marc Chagall], by Yakov Tugendkhold (Тугендхольд) and Abram Efros (Эфрос). Moscow: Геликон (Gelikon), 1918. First Edition. Russian.
The first published monograph on Marc Chagall. The book contains reproductions of his works, some on tipped-in plates and some in the text. An edition of 850 copies; this copy is not numbered. Publisher's logo designed by El Lissitzky.
51, [5] pp + [13] plates, 28.5 cm. Hardbound, with the original front paper cover (designed by Chagall). The back cover is missing. Body in good overall condition. Stains, blemishes and small tears. One of the plates is detached. The front cover is detached. The binding is torn at its edges and partly detached. Bookplate on the inside front binding.
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Marc Chagall (1887-1985), a Russian-French artist, is considered by many the greatest Jewish modern painter. Chagall was born to a Hassidic family in Liozna (then in Belarus), the eldest of nine siblings. When his mother asked his first art teacher, the painter Yehuda Pen, whether her son could earn a living from painting, Pen looked at Chagall's sketches and told her: "Yes, he has some ability". At the age of twenty, he was accepted to study art in St. Petersburg (during this period, he painted for the first time the figure of the Fiddler on the Roof, after which the famous musical is named) and in 1914 married the writer Bella Rosenfeld, who became known as one of his greatest sources of inspiration.
After the October Revolution, Chagall was appointed commissar of arts for the Vitebsk district, where he established an art museum and school. Among the teachers of the school were the artist El Lissitzky and the painter Yehuda Pen – Chagall's first teacher. In 1919, another painter was invited to teach at the school, who was one of the most revolutionary and influencing artists in those years – Kazimir Malevich. Malevich held an artistic view which was more radical than Chagall's and wanted to instill his students with the artistic style he himself had developed – Suprematism. His charismatic figure and new outlook attracted many supporters and in 1920, a collective was established in the school (UNOVIS), which adopted the principles of his doctrine. Gradually, Malevich and his supporters gained power and influence, taking Chagall's place in the managing of the school and finally, changing the curriculum. Subsequently, Chagall decided to leave Russia.
In 1920, Chagall moved to Western Europe and after a short stay in Berlin settled in Paris. During this period, he created the important series "My Life", which documented the views of the Jewish town, and the series of bible illustrations. In 1941, approx. two years after the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, Chagall succeeded in escaping to the USA with the assistance of the American journalist Varian Fry. For several years he lived in New York, returning to France after the war, where he remained until his death.
Chagall's works of art, which embrace a wide variety of fields and styles (prints, theater sets and costumes, sculpture and ceramics, tapestry, mosaics, stained glass, and more), are exhibited in leading museums and galleries, in the opera houses of New York and Paris, in the Mainz Cathedral, in the Knesset (in a space named "The Chagall Lounge") and elsewhere. The painter Pablo Picasso said of his work: "When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is".
Shtrom, Choydesh Heftn [Stream, monthly booklets], issue no. 2. Moscow: Shtrom, 1922. Yiddish. Cover design by Marc Chagall.
Shtrom, literary-artistic journal, containing poetry and prose by Peretz Markish, Der Nister (Pinchas Kahanowitz), David Hofstein, Naum Auslander (Nokhem Oyslender) and others.
The journal was founded in Moskow by Yehezkel Dobrushin, Naum Auslander and Aron Kushnirov, all prominent poets in the Jewish art circles of Kiev. A total of six issues (in five booklets) were published between 1922 and 1924. At first, the journal aimed at publishing Yiddish modernist writers from all over the world, not only from Russia. Although it was not an official organ of a Soviet organization, Shtrom is considered as the first Soviet Yiddish literary periodical.
80 pp, 25.5 cm. Good condition. Minor stains. Pen and pencil notations (small, not affecting text). Several leaves are detached. Dark stains, creases and minor tears to edges of cover; open tears to spine. Three holes punched near the spine, presumably for binding or tying with string.
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Marc Chagall (1887-1985), a Russian-French artist, is considered by many the greatest Jewish modern painter. Chagall was born to a Hassidic family in Liozna (then in Belarus), the eldest of nine siblings. When his mother asked his first art teacher, the painter Yehuda Pen, whether her son could earn a living from painting, Pen looked at Chagall's sketches and told her: "Yes, he has some ability". At the age of twenty, he was accepted to study art in St. Petersburg (during this period, he painted for the first time the figure of the Fiddler on the Roof, after which the famous musical is named) and in 1914 married the writer Bella Rosenfeld, who became known as one of his greatest sources of inspiration.
After the October Revolution, Chagall was appointed commissar of arts for the Vitebsk district, where he established an art museum and school. Among the teachers of the school were the artist El Lissitzky and the painter Yehuda Pen – Chagall's first teacher. In 1919, another painter was invited to teach at the school, who was one of the most revolutionary and influencing artists in those years – Kazimir Malevich. Malevich held an artistic view which was more radical than Chagall's and wanted to instill his students with the artistic style he himself had developed – Suprematism. His charismatic figure and new outlook attracted many supporters and in 1920, a collective was established in the school (UNOVIS), which adopted the principles of his doctrine. Gradually, Malevich and his supporters gained power and influence, taking Chagall's place in the managing of the school and finally, changing the curriculum. Subsequently, Chagall decided to leave Russia.
In 1920, Chagall moved to Western Europe and after a short stay in Berlin settled in Paris. During this period, he created the important series "My Life", which documented the views of the Jewish town, and the series of bible illustrations. In 1941, approx. two years after the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, Chagall succeeded in escaping to the USA with the assistance of the American journalist Varian Fry. For several years he lived in New York, returning to France after the war, where he remained until his death.
Chagall's works of art, which embrace a wide variety of fields and styles (prints, theater sets and costumes, sculpture and ceramics, tapestry, mosaics, stained glass, and more), are exhibited in leading museums and galleries, in the opera houses of New York and Paris, in the Mainz Cathedral, in the Knesset (in a space named "The Chagall Lounge") and elsewhere. The painter Pablo Picasso said of his work: "When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is".
Troyer [Sorrow], by David Hofstein. Kiev: Kultur Lige, 1922. Yiddish. Illustrations by Marc Chagall.
A poetry cycle by David Hofstein dealing with the pogroms against Ukrainian Jews during the years 1917-1920; accompanied by a series of illustrations by Marc Chagall. The book was published with the support of the "Public Jewish Committee for Assisting Victims of War, Riots and Natural Disasters" and it states: "All profits go to the starving Jewish colonies".
The illustration of Hofstein's cycle of poems was one of Chagall's last projects before leaving Russia. The modernist illustrations reflect not only the sense of destruction and sorrow in Hofstein's poems but also, to a certain extent, the upheavals in the life of Chagall, who was forced at the time to retire from his position as director of the art school he had founded in Vitebsk.
XXIII, [1] pp + [4] plates, approx. 31 cm. Good-fair condition. Brittle paper. Closed and open tears to edges (most of them small). One of the illustration plates is detached. Stamp on verso of the title page ("Printed in U.S.S.R."). New, hard cover, with most of the original front cover laid down (its margins are trimmed). Missing original back cover.
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Marc Chagall (1887-1985), a Russian-French artist, is considered by many the greatest Jewish modern painter. Chagall was born to a Hassidic family in Liozna (then in Belarus), the eldest of nine siblings. When his mother asked his first art teacher, the painter Yehuda Pen, whether her son could earn a living from painting, Pen looked at Chagall's sketches and told her: "Yes, he has some ability". At the age of twenty, he was accepted to study art in St. Petersburg (during this period, he painted for the first time the figure of the Fiddler on the Roof, after which the famous musical is named) and in 1914 married the writer Bella Rosenfeld, who became known as one of his greatest sources of inspiration.
After the October Revolution, Chagall was appointed commissar of arts for the Vitebsk district, where he established an art museum and school. Among the teachers of the school were the artist El Lissitzky and the painter Yehuda Pen – Chagall's first teacher. In 1919, another painter was invited to teach at the school, who was one of the most revolutionary and influencing artists in those years – Kazimir Malevich. Malevich held an artistic view which was more radical than Chagall's and wanted to instill his students with the artistic style he himself had developed – Suprematism. His charismatic figure and new outlook attracted many supporters and in 1920, a collective was established in the school (UNOVIS), which adopted the principles of his doctrine. Gradually, Malevich and his supporters gained power and influence, taking Chagall's place in the managing of the school and finally, changing the curriculum. Subsequently, Chagall decided to leave Russia.
In 1920, Chagall moved to Western Europe and after a short stay in Berlin settled in Paris. During this period, he created the important series "My Life", which documented the views of the Jewish town, and the series of bible illustrations. In 1941, approx. two years after the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, Chagall succeeded in escaping to the USA with the assistance of the American journalist Varian Fry. For several years he lived in New York, returning to France after the war, where he remained until his death.
Chagall's works of art, which embrace a wide variety of fields and styles (prints, theater sets and costumes, sculpture and ceramics, tapestry, mosaics, stained glass, and more), are exhibited in leading museums and galleries, in the opera houses of New York and Paris, in the Mainz Cathedral, in the Knesset (in a space named "The Chagall Lounge") and elsewhere. The painter Pablo Picasso said of his work: "When Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is".