H2SO4

Quarto 29x21.5 cm, wrappers, 48 leaves, 96pp. Edition of 1000 copies. Imraklii Gamrekeli (1894-1943) and Beno Gordeziani (1894-1975) were the art editors and designers of this masterpiece of the Georgian avant-garde. Cover with letterpress typographic design by Gamrekeli, photomechanical reproductions of Gamrekeli and Gordeziani throughout, with texts of typographic designs. This audacious and wonderful statement is the most famous of visual productions to come out of avant-garde Georgia under Soviet rule and is the apex of Gamrekeli's graphic production. This work continues the Futurist-into-Dada movement that began with the Zdanevich brothers before WWI and the 41 Degrees group. Carrying on the tradition of the transrational, it drew some of the most creative artists and writers of the time, employing experimental typography as artistic composition and zaum (transrational language) as the poetic vehicle. The H2SO4 group would continue for the next two years to publish experimental work in Tbilisi before submission to the esthetics of the state. This is the first and only number of the symposium-journal to be released. OCLC finds this in Yale and NYPL for North American institutions, but also MOMA 534, illus. pp. 128-129. A very copy+ of this treasure from the Georgian avant-garde. Chepyzhov No. 3.