"A Yankee in Petrograd" Vol. 5 Radio Town by Jim Dollar (Marietta Saginyan)
Aleksandr Rodchenko
Russian, 1891–1956
1924
A 1924 gravure book cover by Aleksandr Rodchenko that combines photomontage, bold stenciled lettering, and industrial motifs to advertise the tale 'A Yankee in Petrograd' while projecting the energy of Soviet modernity.
The cover hits you with stark black-and-blue arrows and blocky Cyrillic type that thrust the eye into a theatrical, model-like composition of bridges, a turret, and an early automobile, giving a cinematic, forward-driving sense of construction and motion.
A defining example of Constructivist graphic design, it helped legitimize photomontage and dynamic typography as tools for mass communication and the visual vocabulary of industrial modernity.
Medium
Gravure
Dimensions
7 x 5" (17.9 x 12.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Kenneth Walker Fund
Accession
407.1991.5
Palette
Exhibitions
