The Industry of Socialism (Industriia sotsializma)
INV-1991avant-gardephotographyphotograph
Date
1935
Medium
Letterpress and gravure, complete set of 7 volumes in a slipcase
Dimensions
Each: 35 × 25.7 cm (13 13/16 × 10 1/8 in.); Slipcase: 36.7 × 27.5 × 5.5 cm (14 1/2 × 10 7/8 × 2 3/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Maurice D. Galleher Endowment
Designed for the Seventh Congress of Soviets, this seven-volume book served as propaganda glorifying Soviet industrial progress and innovation. It underscored the triumph of the first five-year plan led by Joseph Stalin, which aimed to develop heavy industry and collectivize agriculture. The Industry of Socialism features exemplary typography, foldouts, and photomontage throughout the volumes and their enclosure. The enclosure itself is a work of art—it includes Anatoli Skurichin’s 1930 photograph Builders of Kuznetsk, depicting a machine operator and a furnaceman dynamically framed to resemble an aircraft window. With a long list of contributors and its printing production carried out by seven printing companies, the Industry of Socialism series attests to both the pathos of Soviet industrialization and the creative labor dedicated to its creation.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
