Shtetl, Mayn Khoyever Heym; A Gedenknish / My Ruined Home, a Memory
Berlin: Schwellen, (1923). First printing. Hardcover. Oblong folio, cloth backed boards, good; recent cloth over boards, boards rubbed and with loss to edges, boards also a bit bowed; contents good, recent flyleaves added, collated complete, (2) plates III-XXXI, pages have light tanning, soil and occasional signs of handling and faint stains to margins, but images are all vivid, especially the few in bistre, last five plates have edgewear (small tears and chips) to the outer margin. Ryback attended the art school in Kiev until 1916. He joined a progressive group of painters and was influenced by advocates of a modern Jewish literature such as David Bergelson and David Hofstein. The painters Alexander Bogomazov and Alexandra Exter were in Kiev at the time, and they taught him in 1913. In 1916 El Lissitzky and Ryback were given the task to make Jewish art memorials of schtetls from Ukraine and Belarus. When he participated in an exhibition of Jewish paintings and sculptures in Moscow the spring 1917, his works were especially recommended. During the October Revolution in 1917, he took part in multiple activities to redefine avantgarde Yiddish culture, e.g., he was a member of Kultur Lige in Kiev. Later he went to Moscow. After his father was killed by Petliura's soldiers in the pogroms in Ukraine, he fled in April 1921 to Kaunas and in October 1921 he obtained a visa for Germany. He was in Berlin until 1924. He was a member of the Novembergruppe and exhibited his Cubist pictures at both the Berliner Secession and the Juryfreien Kunstausstellung. He also illustrated three small Yiddish fairy tale books for Miriam Margolin. His Shtetl. Mayn Chorever Heym, a Gedekniss (Shtetl, My Destroyed Home. A memorial) was published in 1923 by Schwellen-Verlag. It is a collection of lithographs of his home town which was destroyed by pogroms. At the time the Jewish education organization World ORT was situated in Berlin and he made the design for its logo. (Wikipedia). Good. Item #H21568
Price: $1,000.00