Mayakovsky/El Lissitzky's For the Voice
Peter Hellyer : Slavonic and East European Collections
The
bold, geometric lines of the Russian Constructivist school can be
seen everywhere in popular culture today, from The Face
magazine to adverts for Ladbrokes. A masterpiece of the movement
is For the Voice of 1923, with Mayakovsky's vibrantly
rhythmic poetry and El Lissitzky's inventive design. Peter
Hellyer examines a remarkable collaboration that's as much
for the eye as for the voice.
Listen now (MP3, 7min 28sec, 3.0MB)
Read transcript (PDF, 80K)
See full cover of book
See pages from book
Moi Ver's Paris Photobook
Carole Holden: Head of American Collections
In
the 1930s, Paris was a hub of activity for immigrant photographers,
recording the city's vibrant street and artistic life in books:
Brassaï, Ehrenburg et al. But the extraordinary photo-book
by Lithuanian Moï Ver (Moses Vorobeichic) stands out for its
often breathtaking, cinematic originality in scope and technique.
Carole Holden explains why this is a book of photographs
unlike any other.
Listen now (MP3, 7min 48sec, 3.1MB)
Read transcript (PDF, 80K)
See full cover of book
Cendrars/Delaunay's Prose du Transsibérien
Chris Michaelides : Curator in Italian and Modern Greek section
A
remarkable fusion of Sonia Delaunay's sunny abstract art and Blaise
Cendrars' dark poetry, La Prose du Transsibérien
tells the half-real, half-imaginary story of a long trip east in
1905 on the great Russian train. Today Cendrars might start from
the champagne bar at St Pancras's glorious new station, from where
Chris Michaelides tells us what new areas Cendrars
and Delaunay explored – ones as far east as Mongolia.
Listen now (MP3, 9min 25sec, 3.8MB)
Read transcript (PDF, 90K)
See image of part of the work
Zoomable image
Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces
Rob Ainsley: Breaking the Rules website team
Arnold
Schoenberg overturned the old rules of music. Out went tunes and
harmonic progressions, and in came the brave, dissonant new world
of atonality. The Five Orchestral Pieces of 1909 unleashed the new
sounds that Schoenberg considered inevitable and necessary. Rob
Ainsley explains why critics scratched their heads, audiences
rioted - and why not much has changed.
Listen now (MP3, 9min 10sec, 4.7MB)
Read transcript (PDF, 80K)
See more of the manuscript
Heym/Kirchner's Umbra Vitae
Susan Reed: Head of German Printed Collections
Georg
Heym's searing book of poems Umbra Vitae of 1912 –
the year of his untimely death – was a powerful enough testament
to the strident new emotional world of German Expressionism. But
when the artist Ludwig Kirchner illustrated the second edition of
1924 with his mind-burning woodcuts, the result was a classic of
book design, combining textual and visual art. Susan Reed
tells its colourful story.
Listen now (MP3, 8min 49sec, 3.5MB)
Read transcript (PDF, 80K)
See full cover of book
David Gascoyne's notebook
Candida Ridler: Curator, Modern British Collections
Without English poet David Gascoyne, Surrealism may never have reached Britain. His 1930s notebooks are full of sketches, ideas for poems, personal reflections and even bizarre, Pythonesque lists of Surreal Objects. They provide a fascinating insight into the world of the Avant Garde artist. Candida Ridler reveals a world of lecturers in diving suits, furry breakfasts, and footballs smoking cigarettes...
Listen now (MP3, 7min 34sec, 3.0MB)
Read transcript (PDF, 80K)
See image from notebook
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