Art Constitution: The Illustrated Constitution of the Russian Federation (English and Russian Edition) [Hardcover]

Sergey Denisov (Author), Ivan Kolesnikov (Author), Peter Voice (Author), Zurab Tsereteli (Author), Natalia Kolodzei (Author), Ekaterina Dyogot (Author), Irina Kulik (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0975482912 | ISBN-13: 978-0975482919 | Publication Date: December 12, 2003

Art Constitution: The Illustrated Constitution of the Russian Federation is a collaborative project reflecting the individuality of more than 100 artists of different generations. Art Constitution, composed entirely of works from the last 10 years (the period when this Constitution has been in effect), allows us to trace the evolution and to see the complete spectrum of contemporary Russian art through the illustration of each of the Constitution's 137 articles. The Art Constitution brings together artists who began their careers during Khrushchev’s "Thaw" and others who first distinguished themselves in the post-Soviet period, all of whom now enjoy the opportunities and challenges of artistic freedom in the new Russia. The book’s 137 color plates represent virtually all the artistic trends and movements of the second half of the 20th century.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 353 pages
• Publisher: Moscow: Alpha-Press, 2003, co-published by the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Kolodzei Art Foundation, Inc. (in Russian and English). (December 12, 2003)
• Language: English, Russian
• ISBN-10: 0975482912
• ISBN-13: 978-0975482919
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,404,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Irony Evidences Democracy, September 1, 2004

By 

Marc David Miller "www.DiscoveringRussia.com-... (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Art Constitution: The Illustrated Constitution of the Russian Federation (English and Russian Edition) (Hardcover)

Paradoxically, the first constitution in Russia appeared in 1918, soon after the violent and anti-democratic Bolshevik revolution. Previous attempts at establishing a constitutional democracy include the 1825 Decembrists' revolt, the Manifest of 1905 which granted to the population basic civil rights, and the Fundamental Laws of the State of 1906. In 1924, after the formation of the Soviet Union, the first Constitution of the USSR was adopted. In 1936 the Stalin Constitution took effect. In 1977 the Brezhnev Constitution became law. These documents all granted great freedoms to the individual, but were mere words on paper. The Brezhnev Constitution was in effect until the adaptation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993.

One hundred thirty-seven different illustrations, each an artistic interpretation of the 137 Articles of the post-Soviet Constitution of 1993, honor the Constitution's 10th Anniversary.. More than 100 artists of different generations, from the post-Stalin "Thaw" years to the present, democratic times, participated in Art Constitution: The Illustrated Constitution of the Russian Federation, the project of Ivan Kolesnikov, Sergei Denisov, and Petr Vois, along with Zurab Tsereteli (President of the Russian Academy of Arts, Director of the Moscow Modern Art Museum, and distinguished sculptor) and Natalia Kolodzei (Executive Director of the Kolodzei Art Foundation and co-owner of one of the world's largest private art collections). The project, comprised entirely of works from the last 10 years, enables the spectator to trace the evolution and view the complete spectrum of contemporary Russian art through the illustration of each of the Constitution's Articles.

Artists' participation in the political life of Russia has a long history. One of the most vivid examples is the brief history of the relationship of the Russian Avant-Garde and the printed word, when the graphic arts were considered an integral part of visual art. Despite utopian ideas and anarchical moods, books of pre-1914 were designed for a narrow circle of people and had no great political effect. With the Revolution in 1917, when the former counterculture for a short time became recognized as the official cultural elite, utopian ideas in the works by Alexandre Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, and Gustav Klucis turned into concrete form. Now approached as ideological tools, books became graphically more logical and symmetrical.

After the death of Lenin in 1924 and the emergence of the Stalin dictatorship, diversity in graphic design and illustration diminished. The Communist Party, by then the only arbitrator of culture, called for an art "comprehensible to the millions." Abstraction was disfavored, and, to eliminate traces of personal touch in a collective art, photography became the prescribed source for images. In the hands of artists like Lissitzky, Klucis, Rodchenko, and Varvara Stepanova it was put to brilliant use. Lissitzky even managed to give Stalinist propaganda some flair: the subject of his 1934 photomontage of Red Army maneuvers is chilling, but it is hard not to admire its striking design. The very year Lissitzky produced this work, Socialist Realist was decreed the only acceptable aesthetic style. Some artists complied, others fled to Europe, while many vanished in government purges. The Russian Avant-Garde was finished, and with it the thrilling tradition of artist's books had come to a halt.

The First Illustrated Constitution of the Russian Federation unites living artists who began their careers during Khrushchev's Thaw and the artists who started their careers in the post-Soviet period, all of whom now enjoy the benefit and challenge of artistic freedom in the new Russia. It is important to note the individuality of each work, and of each artist, incorporated in one project. Photographs by Vlad Mamyshev-Monro, Tatiana Antoshina, and Oleg Kulik, constructivist design and photomontages by Sergei Denisov and Ivan Kolesnikov, SotsArt allusions by Boris Orlov, an illustration in neo-primitivist style by Andrei Karpov, Andrei Bilzho's comics, conceptual projects by Farid Bogdalov, Komar & Melamid -- almost all the artistic trends and movements of the second half of the 20th century are represented. These 137 illustrations represent different aspects of the Russian art and views of the Russian life.

It is important to note that such a project as this is possible in Russia only since the adaptation of the 1993 Constitution, when the artist freely and, ironically, sometimes very sharply, can create their own illustrations. Juxtaposition of an illustration on one page facing a page with its associated Article creates a special atmosphere - a new way of reading. By participation in this project, the artist, a citizen of the Russian Federation, reflects on the past ten years of the existence (and the implications) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, thinking back to the optimism embodied by this document and forward to the realities (both good and bad) of present-day society.