In Lissitzky’s Self-Portrait, on view nearby, the artist reimagined himself as a designer and builder. This multilayered image was frequently reproduced during the interwar years, as in these two examples. It is representative of New Vision, an experimental photography movement that emerged in the 1920s; its practitioners used techniques including collage, double and multiple exposure, and photomontage. In Foto-auge (Photo-eye), one of the most influential publications of this movement, designer Tschichold selected Lissitzky’s image for the cover. Latvian artist Gustav Klutsis also used it to illustrate his 1931 essay “Photomontage as a New Kind of Agitation Art.”

Gallery label from

2024

Medium Book with letterpress cover by Lissitzky and letterpress text and reproductions
Dimensions page: 11 9/16 x 7 5/8" (29.3 x 19.4 cm); book: 11 5/8 x 8 1/16 x 1/2" (29.5 x 20.5 x 1.2 cm)
Publisher Fritz Wedekind & Co., Stuttgart
Printer Unidentified
Edition unknown
Credit Gift of The Judith Rothschild Foundation
Object number 321.2001
Department Drawings and Prints

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