id: 162329 accession number: 2002.60 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.60 updated: 2023-05-16 11:14:39.034000 13 poems written by Vladimir Mayakovsky: For the Voice, 1923. El Lissitzky (Russian, 1890–1941), Gosudarstvenoe Izadatelstvo. Book containing 61 pages with letterpress designs printed in red and black ink; cover printed in red and black ink on orange paper; sheet: 18.5 x 13 cm (7 5/16 x 5 1/8 in.); cover: 18.7 x 13.4 cm (7 3/8 x 5 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of various donors to the department of Prints and Drawings 2002.60 © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York title: For the Voice title in original language: series: 13 poems written by Vladimir Mayakovsky series in original language: creation date: 1923 creation date earliest: 1923 creation date latest: 1923 current location: creditline: Gift of various donors to the department of Prints and Drawings copyright: © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York --- culture: Russia, 20th century technique: book containing 61 pages with letterpress designs printed in red and black ink; cover printed in red and black ink on orange paper department: Prints collection: PR - Lithograph type: Bound Volume find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * El Lissitzky (Russian, 1890–1941) - artist * Gosudarstvenoe Izadatelstvo - published by --- measurements: Sheet: 18.5 x 13 cm (7 5/16 x 5 1/8 in.); Cover: 18.7 x 13.4 cm (7 3/8 x 5 1/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: wove paper bound and stapled within a heavy stock wove cover watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: inscribed in red ink and dated: Bepe Kongeruhohne (?) og C.M. Cronuwa 8/I 24 (Bepe Kongeruhohre? gave the book to Mark Slonim on January 8th, 1924) translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Bepe Kongeruhohne(?); Mark Slonim; (Mapk Crohnm) date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The radically innovative For the Voice is considered to be El Lissitzky's most spectacular achievement in book illustration, or "book construction" as the artist described his work. A champion of Russian Constructivism, Lissitzky used pure, abstract forms to express progressive social values and his hope of transforming the world through science and technology on both a private and public level. In his designs for this book, Lissitzky mixed fonts and turned variously sized letters in different directions amid a cacophony of squares and circles and diagonal, vertical, and horizontal stripes. Printing the image in black and red, he aimed to capture and keep the viewer's attention. Lissitzky's inventiveness extended to the page margins, which are stepped like an address book to form an index to the poems of Vladimir Mayakovsky, the Russian avant-garde author whose voice resounded throughout the 1920s. The collection of 13 poems is meant to be read aloud—hence, the title. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES