Selected Book and Periodical Covers by
Zdeněk Rossmann (Czech, 1905–1984)

Left: František Nechvátal (author),
Vedro na paletě, básně (Heat on the palette, poems)
With a detail of Man Ray’s photograph Les Larmes (The Tears), 1932.
Prague: Václav Petr, 1935
Lithograph and letterpress, 8 3/8 x 5 1/4” (21 x 13 cm)

Right: Frantíšek Kožík (author), Cristobal Colón (Christopher Columbus)
Brno: Joža Jicha, 1934
Lithograph and letterpress, 9 3/8 x 6 3/16” (23.8 x 15.7 cm)

In 1930 and 1931, Zdeněk Rossmann (1905–1984) and Marie Doležalová (1909–1983) met at the Dessau Bauhaus; he was studying architecture under Hannes Meyer and she was studying photography under Walter Peterhans. Neither stayed long. It was a precarious time at the Bauhaus: Meyer was summarily dismissed for his left-leaning politics on August 1, 1930, and those who supported him—including Rossmann and Doležalová—were expelled. They returned to their native Czechoslovakia, where they married in October 1931. Rossmann supported himself with graphic design and teaching and Doležalová continued her photography studies under Jaromír Funke. Rossmann’s book and journal covers presented here date largely from his post-Bauhaus period. Their sophisticated incorporation of contemporary photography suggests generative interchange between Rossmann’s and Doležalová’s respective domains.

“We photograph only that part that is characteristic of the entire subject,” wrote Rossman of his approach to photomontage in Pismo a fotografie v. reklamě (Lettering and photography in advertising) in 1938. “The next possibility is the cut-out. With scissors or a spray gun we remove everything that does not belong to the depicted subject.”

Left: Zdeněk Rossmann (author), Pismo a fotografie v. reklamě
(Lettering and photography in advertising)
Olomouc: Index, 1938
Lithograph and letterpress, 8 1/4 x 5 7/8” (21 x 15 cm)

Right: Berthold Jacob (author), Nové německé vojsko a jeho vůdcové
(The new German military and its leaders)
Olomouc: Index, 1937
Lithograph and letterpress, 8 1/4 x 5 7/8” (21 x 15 cm)

Left: Jan Vaněk, Zdeněk Rossmann, B. Horneková (authors), Civilisovaná žena: Jak se má kultivovaná žena oblékati (Civilized woman:
how a cultivated woman should dress)
Brno: J. Vaněk, 1929
Lithograph and letterpress, 9 1/2 x 6 5/8” (24.3 x 17.1 cm)

Right: Richard Wright (author), Syn černého lidu: Sociální román (Native son: a social novel). Translated from the American by G. Černý
Prague: Horizont, 1947
Lithograph and letterpress, 8 1/2 x 6” (22 x 15 cm)

Stavitel: Měsíčník pro moderní architekturu
(Builder: Monthly magazine for modern architecture), vol. XI, nos. 1-12 (1930)
Each: Lithograph and letterpress, 12 1/8 x 9 1/8” (30.8 x 23.2 cm)
Note: Stavitel was published in Prague by Nákladem Stavitel, Sekce Klubu Inženýrů a Stavitelů (Builders, Section of the Club of Engineers and Builders) between 1919 and 1938. The editors rotated; they included: Adolf Benš, Jaroslav Kabeš, Josef Setnička,
Josef Stěpánek, and Josef Svoboda.

Josef Vydra (author), Bratislava a okolie (Bratislava and its environs),
vol. 1 of the series Sprievodca po Slovensku (Slovakia guide)
Bratislava: Živnostenské vydavateľstvo a nakladateľstvo za účasti mesta Bratislavy a Cudzineckého Sväzu, 1931
Lithograph and letterpress, 6 7/8 x 4 1/4” (17 x 11 cm)

February 7, 2023