"LEF", Journal of the "Left Front of the Arts" – Two Issues – Moscow, 1923 / "New LEF" – Moscow, 1927 – Covers ...

"LEF", Journal of the "Left Front of the Arts" – Two Issues – Moscow, 1923 / "New LEF" – Moscow, 1927 – Covers Designed by Alexander Rodchenko

• Two issues of the journal "LEF" (ЛЕФ) – "Left Front of the Arts" (Левого фронта искусств) in the Soviet Union, edited by Vladimir Mayakovsky – First year, issue no. 2, Moscow-Petrograd: Государственное издательство, April-May 1923 / First year, issue no. 3, Moscow: Издательство ЛЕФ, June-July 1923. Russian.

Issue no. 2 (1923) features logos for an aviation company designed by Rodchenko, alongside examples of sportswear designed by his wife, Varvara Stepanova (Варвара Фёдоровна Степанова; 1894-1958).

• Issue of the journal Новый ЛЕФ (New LEF) – "New Left Front of the Arts". Issue no. 1, edited by Vladimir Mayakovsky. Moscow: Государственное издательство, 1927.

Three issues, size and condition vary.

LEF: Issue No. 2: 177, [3] pages. Issue No. 3: 186, [6] pages. Approx. 23-24 cm. Good to good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Creases and minor tears to margins. Wrappers partly detached. Open tears to spine of issue No. 2.

New LEF: Issue No. 1: 47, [2] pages + [2] leaves (plates). 23 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and minor tears. Inscriptions. Wrapper and several leaves detached or partly detached. Tears to spine.

MoMA 501/715.

The "Left Front of the Arts" was an association of artists active in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. The association included artists and intellectuals from the Constructivist and Futurist movements, led by the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky.

The journal "LEF", edited by Mayakovsky, was published from 1923 to 1925. In 1927, it changed its name to "New LEF" (Novy LEF / "New Left Front of the Arts") and was published, with a reduced number of pages, until 1929. In its final months, the journal was edited by writer and playwright Sergei Tretyakov.

The "LEF" journal was the first publication in the Soviet Union to feature photomontage works. Its successor, "New LEF", called for documenting everyday life in the Soviet Union through photography and cinema, and dedicated many of its articles to contemporary developments in these two fields. It also published works by prominent avant-garde artists.

Alexander Rodchenko (Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Ро́дченко; 1891-1956), Russian artist, designer, sculptor, and photographer, member of the Constructivist movement. Rodchenko studied art in Kazan, Tatarstan, and Moscow. He began his career in Cubist and Futurist styles, later gravitating towards Suprematism and geometric abstraction, influenced by Kandinsky and Malevich. Rodchenko served as Vladimir Tatlin's assistant, was his student, and participated in a 1916 exhibition curated by Tatlin. Under his influence, in 1919 Rodchenko began creating three-dimensional works made from various materials (wood, metal, etc.), characterized by interlocking geometric shapes forming airy and dynamic compositions.

During the 1920s, he worked regularly with the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, illustrating and photographing his books, issues of the "Left Front of the Arts" (LEF; ЛЕФ) journal, as well as books and publications by other Russian Futurist and avant-garde creators, and regularly published his photographs in the press.

Rodchenko is considered one of the most versatile artists of the Russian avant-garde: he was among the leaders of the Productivist faction, which advocated strengthening the connection between art and industrial production, and between it and the working and consumer population, thus turning to furniture design and applied arts; later he was drawn to photography and photomontage and engaged in them extensively (considered one of the pioneers of the genre), designed posters, illustrated books, worked in graphics and typography, and created sets for theater and cinema.